KEARSNEY EASTER RUGBY FESTIVAL Match Report- NICO MALAN vs DALE COLLEGE

Apr 21 • General News, School, School Rugby Festivals • 3852 Views • Comments Off on KEARSNEY EASTER RUGBY FESTIVAL Match Report- NICO MALAN vs DALE COLLEGE

FINAL DAY – MONDAY 21 APRIL

FESTIVAL RESULTS TO DATE

THIRD DAY
09h30Nico Malan 10 – 25 Dale College
10h45Glenwood – Framesby
12h00Westville – Selborne College
13h15Affies – HTS Middelburg
14h30Grey College – Monument
15h45Kearsney College – EG Jansen

SECOND DAY
Selborne College 21 – 13 Framesby
HTS Middelburg 43 – 22 Nico Malan
Kearsney College 24 – 19 Dale College
Glenwood 31 – 20 EG Jansen
Grey College 32 – 20 Westville
Affies 14 – 36 Monument

FIRST DAY
Kearsney College 25 – 31 HTS Middelburg
Framesby 16 – 21 Monument
Westville 41 – 10 Nico Malan
Selborne College 12 – 34 Affies
Glenwood 31 – 17 Dale College
Grey College 26 – 8 EG Jansen

The final day of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival got off to an exciting start this morning, in perfect sunny conditions. The organisers and major sponsors – Standard Bank, Illovo Sugar, Sharks Academy and Nashua Durban – have been delighted with the good support which the festival has received over the weekend.

Selectors from The Sharks and Sharks Academy have been in attendance at all festival games. The recipients of three bursaries, each valued at over R100 000, will be announced after today’s final game. This includes a contract with the Academy for 2015, accommodation and a tuition bursary with one of its education partners.

Fixtures and up-dates are available on www.kearsney.com with approximately 50 photographs from each game on the Kearsney College Facebook page.

GAME 1
NICO MALAN 10 – DALE COLLEGE 25

Kicking off the day’s play, Nico Malan from Humansdorp took on Dale College from King William’s Town, with both teams having something to prove after losing both their first and second day fixtures. Nico Malan has struggled at the festival this year having lost both their matches – to Westville on Thursday and to HTS Middleburg on Saturday. Dale, in spite of their usual flair for unpredictable rugby, has also lost both matches – to Glenwood on Thursday and to Kearsney on Saturday.

The team from the Eastern Cape kicked off and put pressure on Nico Malan from the start.
The first points of the match came through great running play by Dale College hooker Bubele Gongqu who scored under the poles, converted by Justerino Davids, to open the score at 7-0 in Dale’s favour.

Nico Malan recovered quickly and with good, steady phase play and consistent pressure on the Dale defence line, they were rewarded with a try by eighth man Dean van der Westhuizen to take the score to 7 – 5 to Dale.

After some scrappy play Davids slotted a penalty in the 17th minute (10-5) and within minutes Nico Malan number 9 Dian Hartzenberg broke through the Dale defence to dot down, bringing the score to 10-10.

In the 21st minute Bulele Gongqo notched up his second try of the day, once again converted by Justerino Davids to round off the scores at half time at 17-10 to Dale College.

The second half saw Dale exert consistent pressure from the re-start and they were unlucky not to score in the 44th minute when number 14 Luzuko Mase dropped the ball on the Nico Malan try line. But this was the theme of the half as both teams were guilty of far too many handling errors and scrappy play.

It looked like the second half would see no points added until in the 57th minute when Nico Malan handed Dale a penalty and Justerino Davids successfully converted to make the score 20-10. The renewed energy unleased a spate of running rugby and Davids crossed the line in the dying moments of the game to bring the final score to 25-10 to Dale College.

(Photos: Tracey van den Aardweg)