Hudson Park and Selborne were made to earn their victories the hard way when they took on Stirling and Cambridge, respectively, in schools’ rugby matches at the weekend.
The Selbornians and Cambridge teams squared off on Friday, the former finally getting away from their opponents to register a 36-10 win, while Hudson Park faced a competitive Stirling outfit on Saturday, edging to a 22-5 victory.
Cambridge have had some tough matches this season, but they showed great courage and competitiveness in making Selborne dig deep for the final result.
They trailed only 5-3 at halftime, and for much of the second period they were within striking distance of their more fancied opponents, scoring a try to trail only 15-10 with about 15 minutes remaining.
However, regular Selborne scrumhalf and captain Connor Fowles made a telling impact after coming off the bench at the break, with his ability to ignite Selborne’s attacking play proving decisive.
The holes in the Cambridge defence only appeared late in the game as the sustained pressure exerted by Selborne eventually told, and they ran in three quick converted tries to seal the result.
Dangerous backline players Edward Malinzi (fullback) and Zwelethu Njoholo (wing) showed their class by crossing for three of Selborne’s six tries, with the latter touching down twice.
Hard-working flank Travis Enslin was also in the thick of things to cross for a try, while others came from Sabelo Vuso and Iviwe Kabale. Ncgali Daniel kicked three conversions.
At Hudson Park, the home side and Stirling battled through difficult, muddy conditions in their derby encounter.
Phumelela Sokopo crossed for Stirling’s only try, but Hudson controlled much of the contest and ultimately fought their way to a deserved 22-5 victory.
They opened the scoring with a penalty by Bubuqaqawuli Mzamo and then crossed for tries by Manyano Mpendu, De’Angelo Snayers and Zearan Booysen to put daylight between them and their rivals.
Mzamo added one conversion, and Booysen’s try was converted by Lunathi Maqanda.
As the second term draws to a close, the schools rugby programme is beginning to slow down, and there are only four matches on the list this weekend.
Following the scare they received against Cambridge, Selborne will need to sharpen their game when they face Stirling at Selborne.
Meanwhile, Hudson Park are in for another testing encounter in their home game against Port Rex.
In Makhanda, St Andrew’s will be looking to pick up the pieces after being dismantled by Kingswood but will get no respite from the hard-running Dale outfit.
On the Somerset Field, Graeme College will be looking to finish the term on a high note when they take on Union High.
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