In a thrilling — and also frustrating — finish, Stirling had to settle for a draw with Daniel Pienaar, after an attempt to win the match with a conversion after the hooter saw the ball hit an upright and bounce back to the field of play at the Wildeklawer Graeme College Rugby Festival in Makhanda on Saturday.
That outcome made it 24-24 as the referee blew the final whistle.
In other action, Grey High had too much gas across the board for Hudson Park, winning 33-12, and Union High outgunned Port Rex Tech 39-11.
Meanwhile, Stirling hit back in the closing stages after Daniel Pienaar led 24-19 with just seven minutes remaining. The Kariega side had a chance to exit their territory with a kick downfield but were ruled offside. From the ensuing penalty, Stirling grabbed their chance to level the scores with a try by Salusiwe Madalane, only to be then denied by the upright.
In the Hudson-Grey High game, the former must be given credit because they never gave up trying and scored two tries in the second half to make sure the score did not spiral out of control. Grey held a 19-0 lead at the break, and after conceding a try early in the second half, they hit back with two more tries to give them enough breathing space, even with Hudson Park having the final say.
Union High, meanwhile, were full of invention and running as they took command after conceding an early try against Port Rex. In a purple patch they ran in three quick tries to surge ahead 19-5 and, although Port Rex kept in sight with two penalties, Union led 22-11 at break.
With centre Leander Kraai a constant threat on attack and deadly accurate with the boot, they consolidated that lead in the second half with two more tries, while Kraai kicked four conversions and two penalties.
Graeme College beat Marlow in thriller
Hosts Graeme College and Marlow delivered a gripping finale to another highly successful festival, with the hosts securing a thrilling 42-28 victory. In scoring six tries, the Graemians were able to use their potent backs to blunt a powerful forward performance by Marlow, who threatened to take complete control up front as they repeatedly pushed the home team back to their line.
This enabled them to power over for three tries in the first half, but Graeme showed dynamic running from the backline for fullback Lucritia Magau to cross for a hat-trick of tries. His first effort came from a clever chip ahead by scrumhalf Luke Doyle, enabling the Graeme No 15 to speed past the Marlow defenders to gather and crash over.
With centre Erin Nelson on song with the boot — he slotted all six conversions — the Graemians would have breathed a sigh of relief when they went into halftime level-pegging at 21-21.
The period soon after the restart proved crucial to the final outcome as Graeme began to come to terms with Marlow’s mauls, holding them up on occasion and also stealing the ball from time to time. This robbed the Cradock team of their early effectiveness, while Graeme continued to look dangerous on attack.
A prolonged period deep in Marlow bore fruit when Doyle slipped the ball to flank Iviwe Mshubeki, who burst through for a try under the posts. That was followed by arguably the try of the festival. Getting the ball around his own 22, Doyle unleashed the backs, and the final pass put Magau in the clear as he used his pace to sprint 60m for another try under the posts.
That made it 35-21, but Marlow wing Jurgens van Staden kept the home supporters on the edge of their seats when he slipped past the Graeme defence with little space to work in along the touchline for an outstanding try, closing the gap to seven points.
However, Graeme were not about to let this one go. From another scrum inside the Marlow 22, they worked the ball to the right and Magau went over in a tangle of bodies in the righthand corner for his hat-trick and the score, which made the game safe for the hosts with two minutes left.
Daily Dispatch
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