The Graeme College seven's rugby side won the plate section of the regional @lantic Sevens tournament last weekend. A total of 16 schools contested the Eastern Province leg of the national tournament, with a view to qualifying for the Champion of Champions tournament in November.
The Graeme College seven's rugby side won the plate section of the regional @lantic Sevens tournament last weekend. A total of 16 schools contested the Eastern Province leg of the national tournament, with a view to qualifying for the Champion of Champions tournament in November.
The EP event was held at Hoërskool Brandwag, in Uitenhage. In their first match of the competition Graeme came up against the eventual tournament winners, Grey High School. Graeme lost the match 0–32. The second match saw Graeme up against Itembelihle Secondary School.
After a slow start, Graeme came back into the match and the final whistle blew with the scores level at 19-all. The third and final pool match was against Hoërskool Andrew Rabie. Graeme started superbly and kept Andrew Rabie under pressure for the match, winning 19–0.
Graeme finished second in their pool, which saw them go through to the plate section semi-finals, meeting Muir. The match ended in a 12-all draw and then went into extra-time sudden death. Graeme scored from the resulting restart to clinch a 17–12 victory .
In the final of the plate section, Graeme played Hoërskool Despatch. Graeme showed their intent from the kick-off and played some of their best rugby of the day to win the match 14–0. In winning the plate section, Graeme placed fifth of the 16 schools competing.
More than 1 000 teams have participated in the series during the past six years and tournament promoter Willem Strauss said the remaining tournaments this year were of great importance for the boys. “The @lantic provincial U18 Sevens tournament (the Sevens version of Craven Week) takes place on 4 and 5 October at Tukkies and that is an incentive for even more schools to participate in these tournaments, Strauss said.
Branco du Preez and Cecil Afrika are among the Springbok Sevens stars who made their debut on the @lantic Series. Schools participating in the EP league were Brandwag, Daniel Pienaar, Muir, Adelaide Gym, Solomon Mahlangu, Grey High, Graeme, Ithembelihle, Andrew Rabie, Gill, Volkskool, Uitenhage High, Nico Malan, Despatch, Molly Blackburn and Bergsig.
