The South African Rugby Union (SARU) Gold Cup Knock Out Tournament once again delivered good rugby as well as a few surprises over the weekend. In Alexandria, the home side Trying Stars ran away 49-13 dominant winners over Paterson Lions. Stars were ruthless and found themselves with a comfortable 22-3 at halftime. Stars are a very difficult side to beat at home turf and their eight tries were testimony to this. They played some outstanding running rugby with an unstoppable backline who scored all of their team’s tries. Lions fought back in the second half with two tries, but it…
Author: Chesley Daniels
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The Annual Pam Golding Properties Graeme Rugby Day once again lived up to its expectations, with a lot of excitement, plenty of entertainment and a few upsets. The popular event took place at Graeme College’s Somerset and Marais fields in Makhanda. Thousands of rugby enthusiasts came out in their numbers in support through the day. Thirty-one matches were scheduled for the day and 62 teams played under-14, U15 and U16 matches at the school’s Marais Field, as well as at Kingswood College and St Andrew’s College, with the first-team matches played on Somerset Field. Alongside local teams Graeme, Kingswood, Mary Waters,…
The Southwell First Cricket side successfully defended the Kowie Toyota Pineapple Tournament-title they commandeered in 2019. Southwell overwhelmed the Grahamstown Invitation XI in the final at the Port Alfred Country Club on Saturday. Southwell won by a massive 200 runs. The annual Pineapple Tournament was yet again a huge success, with lots of action throughout. Exciting and competitive cricket was played and it also brought upsets and surprises. In the semi-finals, Southwell went through to the final in a controversial manner in the game against Salem. The Grahamstown XI comprehensively defeated Cuylerville in the other semi-final. The final wasn’t the showcase…
The Sidbury Cricket Club First XV defended their Grahamstown Cricket Board (GCB) First League title successfully without a delivery or shot played last weekend. The 2019/2020 season went down to the wire with a nail-biting end to the season. It was the first time in the club’s history that they’d had to defend their title so firecely. They were joing log leaders with Cuylerville going in to the last round of the league, with 60 points each. Whoever won the last game with a bonus point would be declared league winners. But Cuylerville, who were the log leaders for most of the…
Grahamstown Brumbies Rugby 1st XV beat Orlando Eagles from Thornhill 36-30 in a friendly encounter as part of their 20th Anniversary Celebrations at the Oval on Saturday. The Oval Sports Ground was the venue for this friendly encounter that was well attended. The young Brumbies side went in to the game as favourites although they rested most of their senior players for the upcoming league. After a dominant and one sided first half that saw Brumbies leading comfortably 31-3 at halftime, the favourites fell asleep in the second half that saw the visitors stage a remarkable comeback. Brumbies as the overwhelming favourites…
The St Marks Rugby Club were once again boss in their Alicedale derby against Rosebuds on Saturday 22 February. The Bulls beat the Roses 25-15 in their annual Sundays River Competition in Transriviere, Alicedale. This win ensures St Marks retains bragging rights as the top rugby team in Alicedale. The Derby has become known for its exciting running rugby. This year’s play was fast and hard despite the heat – and the crowd loved it. Rosebuds didn’t make it easy for the winning side and St Marks had to dig deep for the win. The bigger forwards of the Bulls again shown…
It was not for lack of talent that the Eastern Province Rural (Grahamstown) Cricket team didn’t win a match at the annual Rural Cricket South Africa (RCSA) Week in Kimberley recently. And the stats were not a true reflection what actually happened at the Northern Cape tournament. The side is young and fairly new and is currently in a building process – but this is a very exciting and promising bunch of players. Notably, they qualified for the all important National Week last year in the SWD and were joint winners with Boland. That already is an indication of the talent…
The Manley Flats Cricket Club 2nds are the new Grahamstown Cricket Board (GCB) Second League Champs for the 2019/2020 Season. Manleys recorded a convincing 6-wicket bonus point win over Kenton at the weekend, ensuring the title with one game to spare. Kenton batted first and were bowled out for 110 runs. Manleys scored the winning runs in no time with veteran Barry Gleaves (50*) unbeaten. The top scorer helped make sure the champs reached 112/4. Manleys captain Craig Fourie starred with the ball, clinching impressive figures of 3/19. Meanwhile, Salem registered an all important 7-wicket bonus point over Rhodes, after they…
The Brumbies, opened their Mayoral Cup campaign with a bonus point 26-7 win over Sedru Champs Lily White on Saturday 22 February at a packed Oval. The opening round of the competition saw some entertaining rugby on display. Eastern registered a hard-fought 19-15 win over Wanderers, while the visiting Bedford Crusaders proved too good for Swallows in their friendly encounter with a 22-19 win. The main game of the day was without doubt the highlight of a full programme of rugby. After a 7-7 first half score between Brumbies and Lily White, the young Brumbies side pulled off a second-half…
By CHESLEY DANIELS Mary Waters (Mawas) clinched a dominant 51-5 win over Alexandria High School in the final of last Saturday’s under-19 rugby tournament at the Oval. Nonzamo pulled off a huge surprise when they beat Ukanyo in the 3rd/4th play offs to win the bronze. The inaugural tournament, under the auspices of the South Eastern Districts Rugby Union (Sedru) was hosted by the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Cultur. Its purpose was to provide participation and development opportunities for schools from disadvantaged areas, to promote and accelerate talent development, and to identify talent. Thousands of spectators came out in their numbers…