Grahamstown’s Winter Rose collected maximum points as they ran in four tries against St Marks at Mickey Yili stadium on a Saturday, 5 July.
Grahamstown’s Winter Rose collected maximum points as they ran in four tries against St Marks at Mickey Yili stadium on a Saturday, 5 July.
The Roses’ four tries against Alicedale’s St Marks took them to the top of the log standings at 44 points against St Marks’s 40.
Winter Rose coach, Mfundo Manyathi, called the contest a scrappy affair as both sides missed a number of scoring opportunities. Manyathi said his side was missing a number of key players due to the National Arts Festival taking place in Grahamstown.
Roses made their intentions clear early in the game as they went to half time with a 14-10 lead, thanks to tries from Captain, Masonwabe Nduna and China Njovane.
Roses added two more tries in the second half, through both their wingers, Luthando Kulati and Athenkosi Joja, to take the score to 26-19 earning them a bonus point win, which strengthens their grip on first place in the Eastern Province Rugby Union Wellman Harmse League.
Roses made sure they held on for the win as the St Marks side were looking to come back strongly in the closing stages of the second half.
The side from Grahamstown, however, stood firm in their defence, and never allowed their opponents any chance of a late drama.
St Marks came in the match top of the log and fell to second place, with 10 matches being played so far in the league.
Winter Rose’s next match is tonight (Friday) against Lily White at the Oval stadium at 8pm and will be looking to extend their lead at the top of the standings with six games remaining.
