RUGBY

By Theo Garrun

Paarl sets the pace on day one at KES

Paarl Boys’ High, as was to be expected, were the most impressive side on view on the first day of the Standard Bank King Edward Easter Festival on Thursday, despite being given a first half scare by Selborne College.

Selborne led 5-3 at half time, and they were good value for it. Booishaai had a tough encounter at the North-South Festival on Tuesday night and the short turnaround left them looking flat to start with. It was a different story after the break, however, especially once Paarl had made a raft of substitutions, and they scored seven unanswered tries in the second half to run out 55-5 winners.

The King Edward Reds were also very impressive in their first outing. They bounced back from their loss to Paarl Gim at the North-South on Monday, to produce some sparkling rugby in beating Hudson Park 57-12. The East London boys were outgunned but they never gave up, and they scored two good tries of their own in the closing stages of the game.

KES meet Paarl in the main game of the day on Saturday and, given Paarl’s recent tendency to find themselves behind early on, and KES’ great second half performance against Hudson Park, it could be an interesting encounter.

The early games on day one were rather one-sided, Nico Malan beat St David’s Marist 46-11 and Eldoraigne overcame Parktown 38-0. The Northwood vs Ben Vorster clash was more even. The Tzaneen school ran in in two early tries, but Northwood came back strongly to draw even at half time and then took control in the second half to win 30-15.

The final game of the day was an exciting affair between Queen’s College and Diamantveld. Queens drew clear early on before Diamantveld made a spirited comeback. However, Queens scored two late tries to make the game safe.

HOCKEY

St John’s ended off the 1st day of the Standard Bank King Edward Hockey Festival in dramatic fashion on Thursday when they beat Jeppe 1-0 in the last game of the day. It was a home game for St John’s who, as part of their 125th Anniversary celebrations, are hosting the night games at this year’s festival.

Jeppe have been having a dream season, but their run was cut short by a determined St John’s side, playing in front of a big, noisy home crowd. They went up early in the 2nd half, through a well-taken penalty corner and then defended heroically as Jeppe threw everything into attack.

In the other night games played at St John’s, the hosts, King Edward beat Parktown 1-0 and Northwood beat Grey College 2-0.

The win by KES meant that they are one of three teams to win both their games on the opening day. Earlier, they beat Queens College 1-0. The other unbeaten sides are St David’s, who beat St John’s Harare and Kearsney, and Northwood, who were winners over St John’s and Grey College.

KES face Kearsney and St John’s on Saturday, the latter being the late game under lights, again, and a dramatic clash between the neighbouring schools in on the cards.

RUGBY

By Theo Garrun

So near and yet so far for courageous Reds

The hosts, King Edward, came within a hair’s breadth of toppling the number two side in the land, Paarl Boys’ High, in a pulsating concluding game to the second day of the Standard Bank King Edward Easter Festival on Saturday.

The final score was 10-8 to Paarl, after the Reds had led 8-3 at half-time, and the home side certainly had a number of chances to secure the win. Some wayward goal-kicking cost them, and it took a sensational cover-defence tackle to stop their winger from going over in the corner when it looked like he was in.

Paarl’s try came from a rolling maul after they were repulsed by the KES defence time, after time. That put Paarl ahead, but KES kept coming at them, forcing errors and cutting them down with withering tackles. In the end it was a cracker, that could have gone either way, another one of those festival games that’s going to be talked about in years to come.

The last four games of the day were all exciting, high-quality affairs, worthy of the big crowd that turned up for the Saturday – the biggest in years, according to the festival organisers.

Northwood beat Hudson Park 36-20. The East London boys just refused to go away and every time it looked like Northwood was going to surge ahead, they came back into the game. They were full of tricky running and brave defence, but Northwood had too many guns for them and they managed repulse them and score two late tries to draw clear.

Queens College produced what was arguably the best performance of the day. Playing in front of their legendary old boys, who turned up in numbers and sung their hearts out, they weathered an early storm by a plucky Ben Vorster side and they took control in the end to run out 32-10 winners.

The main curtain-raiser was between Selborne and Parktown, and it was a cracker. Selborne bounced back from their heavy defeat at the hands of Paarl on Thursday and played controlled, power rugby. Parktown were clearly outweighed up front, but they responded with guts and determination and Selborne had to fight all the way for their 23-17 win.

HOCKEY

By Theo Garrun

At the end of the second day’s play at the King Edward Easter Hockey Festival, there were just two teams who have won four out of four matches – Northwood and St David’s Marist.

St David’s have been very impressive over the two days. They beat Eldorainge 7-0 and Trinityhouse 5-0 on Saturday, to take their aggregate to 19 goals in four games, conceding just three. Northwood have kept four clean sheets at the festival so far, their 6-0 and 2-0 wins over Trinityhouse and Eldoraigne, respectively, took their tally to 13 goals for and none against.

In the final game of day 2, played at the St John’s Astro as part of that school’s 125th Anniversary celebrations, St John’s beat the tournament hosts, King Edward, 2-0. That result brought the tournament hosts’ unbeaten run to an end, and showed that St John’s are one of the class acts at this festival. They did lose to Northwood on the first day, but went on to beat the very impressive Jeppe 1-0, under lights later that day, and after beating Queen’s 3-0 on Saturday, they go into their final clash, against Kearsney on Monday, with three wins out of four under their belts.

Jeppe got back on track on the second day with a hard-fought win over Grey College and a convincing win over Parktown. Kearsney recorded their first win when they surprised Grey College 1-0, at St John’s, on Saturday night.

The two unbeaten sides both have tricky encounters on the final day. Northwood play the hosts, KES, who despite their slip up against St John’s, have looked one of the more skilful sides on display, while Northwood take on the physical and uncompromising Grey College.

RUGBY

By Theo Garrun

The King Edward Reds ended the Standard Bank King Edward Easter Rugby Festival off on a high note, when they beat Selborne College 20-0 in the final game of the long weekend, on Monday. After running the mighty Paarl Boys’ High extremely close on Saturday, and comfortably beating Hudson Park on the opening day, they can feel well satisfied with their work and they look set for a good season.

Only two teams, Paarl Boys’ High and Queens College, won all three of their games. Booishaai ran in a few early tries against Northwood on Monday, and a big score looked on the cards, but Northwood were dogged in their defence and they scored a try of their own to keep the score down to 29-7 in the end. In their first game, Paarl beat Selborne 55-5.

Queens, as always, played exciting rugby and they entertained their customary big contingent of old boy supporters with three good wins – 40-21 over Diamantveld, 32-10 vs Ben Vorster and, on Monday, 31-21 over Kempton Park, in a contest where they showed that they can bring the physicality too, when its needed.

In other action on the third day Nico Malan and Ben Vorster produced an entertaining contest. Ben Vorster drew first blood and where still in the game at half time the boys from Humansdorp took control after the break and drew well clear in the end to win 24-5.

The St David’s vs Hudson Park clash was an entertaining affair. St David’s were in the game well into the second half, but when the Eastern Cape boys got their backs going, they found it hard to stop them and they went down 31-19.

Parktown never won a game at the festival, but they showed that they are going to cause a few of their local rivals some headaches as the season progresses. Their withering tackles and all out attack, with whatever possession they could get their hands on, won them many friends in the crowd. They looked set for a first win on Monday, against Diamatveld, but were denied by a late try, losing 19-17.

Durbanville showed at the festival why they are counted among the top sides in the Western Cape this year. They romped home 61-19 against Kempton Park on Saturday, and on Monday, in difficult conditions, they showed they can grind out a win: 22-17 over Eldoraigne.

HOCKEY

By Theo Garrun

The Standard Bank King Edward Easter hockey festival drew to a close on Monday with Jeppe emerging as the best side on view, despite losing 1-0 to St John’s on Thursday night. They beat St John’s Harare 8-0 in their final game – the biggest score of the weekend.

Apart from the St John’s setback, Jeppe were dominant in all their games and they look set for another successful season.

St John’s were good value for their win over Jeppe, played on their own field, under lights and they followed that up with three more wins. On Monday they beat Kearsney 3-2 to finish strongly after losing 3-0 to Northwood in their opening game on Thursday.

Northwood came into the final day with four wins out of four, but they were held to a goalless draw by the the hosts, King Edward, in their last game. They were, nevertheless, the only team to finish unbeaten over the three days.

The draw was a solid result for a KES side who improved greatly over the three days and can go into their local season with confidence.

St David’s were the only other team to go into the final day with four wins under their belts, and were looking like one of the class acts at the festival. They were however, beaten 2-0 by Grey College in their last game. Their skilful passing game was effectively disrupted by the direct, physical style of Grey.

Parktown beat Eldoraigne 4-0 in their final game. It was a good festival for them, with several close score lines.

Jeppe’s Jaydon Brooker was in a class of his own over the three days. He was the top goal-scorer, and he was deservedly named the Standard Bank Player of the Tournament.