PREMIER INTERSCHOOL’S GAME WRAP UP: King Edward V11 (KES) vs Jeppe High School
King Edward VII School 24-0 Jeppe High School
Interschools upset as visitors draw blank
King Edward VII School stunned much-fancied Jeppe High School for Boys in their Premier Interschools clash on Saturday. Favourites Jeppe were without several players due to SA Schools commitments and injuries, but KES will barely believe they not only beat their rivals, but kept them off the score-sheet entirely.
The visiting forwards dominated early on, but couldn’t convert that into points. They started off by attacking inside the KES half and, after two penalties at the breakdown, KES held strong as they tried to bash their way over. Jeppe then decided to take the three penalty points on offer, but it was the closest they came all day as the ball bounced away off the uprights.
Star flanker Senzo Mkhize had some telling runs for the hosts and, from one of them, flyhalf Percy Matlatle seized an opportunity to slice through the defence of Jeppe to open the KES account against the run of play.
Jeppe had plenty of opportunities of their own to score, including three penalties in the KES 25 metre area. They kept on bashing unsuccessfully at the line, before another penalty was missed when they finally opted to kick for poles again.
KES centre Kalvin Mills was rewarded for his hard work and solid play when he broke through the Jeppe defence and touched down near the uprights. He converted his own try as the lead was stretched to 12 points by half-time.
Jeppe kept pushing forward after the break and worked the ball through several phases, but the KES defence again denied them those elusive points. From a KES scrum, 8th man Jared Dickson then broke to the right before the ball ended up in the hands of winger Lwazi Monakali, who raced through untouched to score the third try. Mills converted to take the score to 19-0 after 45 minutes.
The story of the match, Jeppe continued to dominate the forward play and kept on plugging away, only to be met with stout KES resistance. Mkhize played a huge role in defence for KES, even winning some turnover ball as well.
The scrums became uncontested for the latter stages, after Jeppe lost their prop replacement due to injury. This worked in the favour of KES, with their scrum ball now more stable without being continually forced backwards.
Diminutive KES scrumhalf Michael Moyo took advantage when he broke left from the scrum and fed the ball to Monakali, who stepped the defence to run in for his second try to put KES 24-0 ahead with five minutes to play.
The game had one last cruel trick in store for Jeppe as they were held up over the line in the closing stages, leaving the KES supporters to celebrate an eye-catching success.
Scorers:
For KES:
Tries: Percy Matlatle, Kalvin Mills, Lwazi Monakali 2.
Cons: Kalvin Mills 2.
Teams:
KES: 15 Mpho Khambule, 14 Lwazi Monakali, 13 Manny Mbatha, 12 Kalvin Mills, 11 Dylan Petzer, 10 Percy Matlatle, 9 Michael Moyo, 8 Jared Dickson, 7 Senzo Mkhize, 6 Michele Marussi (captain), 5 Tyler Viadana, 4 Napoleon de Beer, 3 Matthew Germishuizen, 2 Mpatho Nkomo, 1 Mpilo Mabuza.
Coaches: Carl Spilhaus, Jonathan Jacobs.
Jeppe: 15 Moemisi Mosheledi, 14 Sydney-William Mdluli, 13 Damian Pasley, 12 Martin Mangwiro, 11 Nathan Grove, 10 Bradley Robbins, 9 Dylan Wadely, 8 Duncan Tverdon, 7 Patrick Wait (Capt), 6 Kelvin Tubadi, 5 Travis Cameron, 4 Andile Ngobe, 3 Henry Wickens, 2 Lehlogonolo Naka, 1 Ricky Nwagbara.
Coaches: J van der Ryst, Reg Hammond.
Referee: Richard Schwulst (Golden Lions Referees’ Society)
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