After a successful outing against Michaelhouse, the “Horseflies” travelled down to Port Elizabeth to participate in the Grey High Rugby Festival. A much loved festival with great camaraderie amongst the traditional boys’ schools proved yet again to be a fantastic showpiece for schoolboy rugby.
DHS took on the hardened men from the Eastern Cape, Hoërskool Brandwag, who possessed an extremely large forward pack. It proved to be arguably the match of the day as both teams entertained in what was an absorbing affair. DHS’s ability to transition quickly from defence into attack proved to be their major success on the day, as they forced turnovers on the opposition resulting in some stunning tries. DHS were in fine form, with 8th man Celimpilo Gumede and flyhalf Lwazi Moletshe dominating proceedings. School raced to a 42-7 lead, and if it were not for a late lapse of concentration from DHS that allowed Brandwag to score 3 unanswered tries in the 2nd half, the score line could have been a lot worse. Ultimately, the DHS pack were able to compete effectively with their counterparts, and as the game wore on the expansive game from the Durban based team took its toll on the opposition and “School” were able to run in some impressive tries. The final score being 42-24 to DHS. It was a great way to start the trip and continued that winning feeling from the week before.
The Saturday fixture pitted DHS against its old rivals Jeppe High School for Boys from Johannesburg. Jeppe narrowly lost to Grey High in Thursday’s main game and it was billed as a real cracker with both teams looking to move the ball into space. DHS started the game sluggishly and Jeppe were in fine form, running in two excellent tries. With DHS reeling slightly, they were able to regain composure with a well worked try from wing Tonderai Ndudzo. However, Jeppe hit back immediately taking the score to 19-7. School rallied well, and managed to tie the game at the break through tries from Luthando Buthelezi and Asande Mnguni.
The 2nd half started where the first left off, with Jeppe ultimately having most of the say and racing to a 31-24 lead with 7 minutes remaining. DHS were guilty of coughing up possession on too many occasions aiding the men from Joburg. It was looking increasingly likely that the game was moving away from the Durban team until a moment of magic from Lock Celimpilo Gumede, as he broke for 30m run to score an excellent try taking the score to 31-29. The final minutes saw Jeppe lose the ball in contact on the halfway line only for centre Asanda Kunene to offload wonderfully to centre partner Lwandile Menze to race 50m to score the winning try with moments remaining.
DHS ran out 34-31 victors and took their winning run to 3 consecutive games, an excellent turnaround since their St Stithians Easter Festival. “School” can take massive heart from the way they have played and fought until the last minute. The momentum is definitely building for what is set to be an exciting end to the season as DHS look forward to fixtures against the majority of their traditional local rivals.
Scott Mathie
1st XV Rugby Coach/Head of Rugby