The honour of being the winner will be up for grabs when Kingswood College hosts St Andrew’s College for K-Day at City Lords on Saturday afternoon.
The honour of being the winner will be up for grabs when Kingswood College hosts St Andrew’s College for K-Day at City Lords on Saturday afternoon.
Kingswood 1st rugby team will look to end the 16 year drought that has afflicted them against St Andrew’s, but as much as Kingswood have played consistently well for much of the season, it looks like it’s a bridge too far to cross against a St Andrew’s team which has not lost to Eastern Cape opposition since a 17-13 loss to Marlow in July last year.
Against Grahamstown opposition, St Andrew’s crushed Graeme College 76-0, while Kingwood, although winning 27-11, never at any stage outplayed Graeme.
One might say that past results count for nothing in derby days, but St Andrew’s dominance has extended throughout the Eastern Cape, having beaten Dale, Queens, Selborne, Grey and Marlow.
Kingswood have themselves shown consistency this season with wins over Stirling, Hudson Park, Dale and Port Rex, so they have been on a winning streak this season.
Both sides have been using more or less the same playing style, keeping the ball in hand, and both have excellent forwards to give their backs the necessary momentum and quick, clean ball.
Defence will be the key to victory on Saturday and both loose trios will be central to this part of the game. A tussle is expected between the two fetchers Ryan Black and Chris Roberts, and in the collisions and physicality stakes, Kingswood will look to captain Jason Collet, Arran Briceland and number 8 Chad Matthews to give them the necessary edge.
St Andrew’s will look to the two Priors, Grant and Mark for the necessary steel and hard nosed grunt which has worn down the best in the province.
The Kingswood backs, with their impressive centre pairing of John Hale and Chris Keets, will look to punch holes in what has been a resolute St Andrew’s back line, marshalled by captain Ryan Dugmore.
The Saint’s backs will look smaller in comparison, but have dealt with bigger back lines with ease and have only once conceded more than three tries in one game and blanked out the impressive Dale College back line.
Goal kicking will, as in any other first team game, be the difference in winning and losing, with the responsibilities falling on Dane van der Westuyzen for Saints and Scot van Breda for Kingswood.
Both have excelled in that department this season and any mistake within range will prove costly. Both sides are well matched and will look to close the season on a high note, but as much as Kingswood are hoping to remove a 16-yearold monkey off their backs, it will be tall order against the top side in the Eastern Cape.
Graham Carlson, Kingswood first team coach, says that they will stick to the same formula that has worked for them throughout the season and said the team will rely on a collective effort in order to win on Saturday.
St Andrew’s director of rugby Allan Miles said that they will also stick to what has worked for them and concentrate on the set pieces and breakdowns as matches are won and lost because of these two important facets of play.
Kingswood (15:1) Scot van Breda, Ruru Msutu, John Hale, Chris Keets, David Kombe, Steven Hansel, Sello Phafane, Chad Matthews, Chris Roberts, Theo Calitz, Jason Collett (captain), Arran Briceland, Luvuyo Swartbooi, Guy Archibald and Matthew Liesenberg.
St Andrew’s (15:1) Jonny Ford, Geoffrey Toplis, Nikita Manqoyi, Ian Herold, Eugene Maritz, Dale Austin, Ryan Dugmore (captain), Mark Prior, Grant Prior, Ryan Black, John Perrott, Benjamin Davies, Andrew Kebble, Dane van der Westhuyzen and Robin Murray.
