Hudson Park put together one of their most complete performances of the season to oust Gqeberha rivals Framesby 43-26, while there were also solid wins for Dale and Selborne in schools rugby matches over the last week.
In a match played under lights last Wednesday, Selborne held too many guns for a spirited Ooskus Gymnasium team, winning 72-15, while Dale outplayed Port Rex 54-24 on Thursday.
The match-up at Hudson Park saw the home forwards clash head-on with the physicality of the Framesby pack as the teams produced a cracking affair.
After swopping early tries, Hudson began to exert more control up front and this allowed them to provide a steady stream of clean possession for their backs to execute the moves they had set up in training.
Although the home side battled with their discipline at certain stages in the match, they continued to show great character in defence, which made it difficult for Framesby to find the penetration needed to score points.
In the end, it all came together on the day for Hudson to score a hard-earned victory against difficult opponents.
On Wednesday evening, Ooskus Gymnasium never gave up the fight against Selborne and scored two tries in the second half by Kwagga Liebenberg and Tiaan Frazer to give their supporters something to cheer about.
However, by that stage Selborne had a firm grip on proceedings and led 36-3 at halftime, adding a further 36 points in the second period.
Flank Lwandle Bacela led the way with a hat-trick of tries and centre Daniel van Biljon crossed twice as the home team ran in 12 tries, with Riley Hansel slotting six conversions.
For Ooskus, Ethan Jansen added a penalty and a conversion.
Thrilling finish
Meanwhile, in Kariega, in a result that was in the balance until the final whistle, Daniel Pienaar held on in a thrilling finish to their Tinara Cup game against Brandwag to win 23-22.
The match was tightly contested throughout, with the Tigers kicking three penalties by Corbelle Claasen and being awarded a penalty try to trail 17-16 at halftime.
They then took a crucial lead with a converted try by Stiaan Coertze early in the second half (23-17) during a half in which both sides battled for supremacy.
Eventually, it was Brandwag who broke the deadlock when the Tigers lost possession and scrumhalf Zanick Carolus ran 50m before unloading to fullback Rezanio Petrus for a try to make it a one-point game.
However, the conversion went past the upright and although there were still 18 minutes left, Daniel Pienaar threw everything into defence to keep their Kariega rivals at bay.
For Brandwag, Josh Badenhorst, Carolus and Luan Greeff crossed for tries in the first half.
In Gqeberha, Pearson and KES, from Johannesburg, had a ding-dong battle and eventually had to settle for a 15-15 draw.
The home side made the early running through a penalty by Keano Beling and a chase from a kick ahead which saw fullback Henrico Ferreira dot down to make it 8-0.
KES hit back a minute before halftime when Kristian Sheahan barged over from close range, with Connor Fourie adding the conversion to make it 8-7 at the break.
Fourie then goaled a penalty to give KES the lead before a grubber through the visiting defence saw No 8 Liya Maswana latch onto the ball for Pearson’s second try, converted by Beling (15-10).
In a period reflecting the nature of the match, both sides had their chances before KES crossed for a second try, by Diego Afonso, to level the score, and that’s how it stayed until the end.
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