St Andrews’ first team won bragging rights when they trounced traditional rivals Kingswood College 43-15 in a fast paced game on the City Lords astroturf.
St Andrews’ first team won bragging rights when they trounced traditional rivals Kingswood College 43-15 in a fast paced game on the City Lords astroturf.
Host side Kingswood started off nervously and fumbled the first kickoff, but then quickly regrouped and launched a sustained attack on the St Andrew’s line with some excellent interplay between the forwards. They scored a penalty 35 metres out, but the pressure of the occasion got to fullback Scot van Breda, who put his attempt wide.
The Saints weathered the storm and their first foray upfield led to a penalty, which was converted by hooker Dane van der Westhuyzen for a 3-0 lead. After this, Saints took control of the game and played the basics well.
Outside centre Nikita Manqoyi took the ball up from a lineout move and drew in defenders, from where nippy scrumhalf Ryan Dugmore fed Van der Westhuyzen with quick ball, who ran an excellent angle to dot down in the corner and converted the difficult touchline conversion for a 10-0 lead.
Keeping the ball in hand, the visitors went through the phases near the ruck channels, but the College defence was honest, with Theo Calitz, Chris Roberts and captain Jason Collett manning the zone with aplomb. However a quick break by left wing Eugene Maritz stretched the home side’s defence and a sniping break by Dugmore put through flank Grant Prior, who dotted down near the uprights and easily converted by Van der Westhuyzen for a 17 point gap.
Saints strike again
From here Saints held onto the ball and launched foray after foray into College territory, while their rearguard stood firm. At this juncture, St Andrew’s had the upper hand in the collisions and tended to break the first tackle, with Prior and Van der Westhuyzen being the main bulldozers, with excellent support from John Perrott and Benjamin Davies and Ryan Black a constant menace at the ruck area. The scrums were keenly contested with both front rows working each other thoroughly and both sides were solid on their own ball in the line outs.
However College gained some momentum from misplaced territorial kicks and piled on some pressure. One resultant move from a fielded kick by wing David Kombe went through the hand and caught Saints napping, but the critical pass did not go to hand. Again Saints laid a siege to the College line, but a stray pass from inside centre Ian Herold was poached by John Hale, who ran 65 metres to dot down under the uprights.
The try was converted by Van Breda to narrow the deficit to 10 points. The visitors then woke up and again went through phases and another penalty attempt went wide, but the home side stood their ground till the half time break.
The second half resumed the pace of the first, and the hosts hit back quickly with a penalty from Van Breda to reduce the margin to 17-10. Then the visitors came into their own, with repeated phases stealing metre by metre, slowly wearing down the home side. College eventually cracked when Maritz dived over in the corner to increase the lead to 22-10.
Saints then did what they do best by denying the opposition any ball and from a resultant backline move initiated by flyhalf Dale Austin, put Manqoyi through and surged down field and put right wing Geoffrey Toplis into space. The latter raced into the corner to score, with Van der Westhuyzen adding the extras for a 19 point lead. With the game out of reach for the hosts, they tried to give it their all, but now the visitors playing with two fetchers after number 8 Mark Prior went off injured.
Getting possession was a hard task and when they got it, a stray pass from Chris Keets was snaffled by Manqoyi, who just outpaced Van Breda to score the match-nailing try.
Golden boots
Van der Westhuyzen continued his love affair with touchline conversions to push the score to 36-10. With the game being played at a ferocious pace and a high intensity, there were stoppages and substitutions, which detracted from the fluency of the game. The referee allowed good advantage and made consistent calls and correct rule interpretations.
Both sides maintained their structures, with the home side being more on the offensive. Some scrappy play and loose rucking lead to a stray kick, which was chased and dotted down by scrumhalf Ruru Msutu, who had a good game.
At 36-15, the game was already decided, but Saints had one more bullet lef. Replacement flank Jonty Arnott weaved through the College defence from a lineout move and crossed the chalk in the corner, where van der Westhuyzen’s booming boot cleared the crossbar on the stroke of fulltime. The final score was 43-15.
Scorers Kingswood: Tries: John Hale, Ruru Msutu,
Conversion Scot van Breda. Penalty: Van Breda
St Andrew’s: tries: Dane van der Westhuyzen, Grant Prior, Eugene Maritz, Geoffrey Toplis, Nikita Manqoyi, Jonty Arnott
Conversions: Van der Westhuyzen (5). Penalty: Van der Westhuyzen.
