Border schools kick off rugby season

A day of cracking schools rugby action was battled out at Selborne College and the BCM Stadium on Saturday as the Border Schools rugby day officially kicked off the 2019 schools’ rugby season.

Despite terrible weather before the day that left the fields drenched and intermittent showers throughout, teams from across the Border region were still able to get down to business.

Not all of the matches that were meant to be played were able to be played due to the state of the fields.

Originally 19 games were meant to be played on three fields at Selborne, but after almost two days of continuous rain only 13 games were played, seven over two fields at Selborne and six over two fields at the BCM Stadium.

“We were very happy that the majority of the games were able to be played. Teams had been preparing for this day a month ago and we had teams travelling from all over, so we were glad that we were able to play most of the games,” said Border Schools secretary Mongezi Mncono.

“I was really happy with how the day went, if you look at the attendance and the mood on the field it was like the previous years, even with all the rain.

“It was a day of rugby full of action from the first match to the last.”

The action at host school Selborne saw four matches played on the B field and then three on the A field to end off the day.

The day’s final match was an enticing match-up between the hosts and Hudson Park High School.

The visitors battled hard in the first half, despite being 14-0 and 21-7 down at various stages and they went into the halftime break still well in the match with Selborne up 21-12.

However, Selborne then picked up their defense in the second half and did not allow Hudson to cross the whitewash again, while adding a further three tries to their tally as they ran out comfortable 42-21 winners.

The other two games also saw good wins for College sides as Dale trounced Stirling 56-24 in a high-scoring encounter and Queen’s blanked Cambridge 29-0.

“The last three games on the A field were the best of the day,” admitted Mncono.

“My favourite was the match between Queen’s and Cambridge, even though Queen’s were the favourites Cambridge put up a fantastic fight and even though they lost 29-0 they can be proud of their effort.

“The match between Dale and Stirling was then a fast and entertaining game that had the supporters on their feet throughout and the final match between Selborne and Hudson was an exciting game to finish the day off in the perfect way.”

The other matches that took place on the Selborne B field saw Grens pick up a solid 31-0 win over Zanempucuko High, Port Rex beat a game Phillip Mtywaku side 24-5, Khanyisa High claim an impressive 19-10 win against Lilyfontein and De Vos Malan thrashed Gonubie 63-0.

A number of these teams will now go on to the Graeme Rugby Day taking place in Grahamstown over the coming weekend.

Results from the BCM Stadium

• Mzomhle High beat Breidbach High 11-10
• St Matthews beat George Randell 22-7
• Chief Boklein beat St Johns 17-0
• Phillip Mtywaku beat Mthatha High 25-0
• Selborne 2nd XV beat Hudson 2nd XV 50-0
• Umthawelanga High beat Beaconhurst 10-3

rossr@dispatch.co.za