The hosts, St John’s College, led 21-0 at the halftime break on Saturday, but St Stithians College demonstrated impressive character to claw their way back into the King Price Derby Series contest and end it with a 21-21 draw on Burger Field.
The Blues opened the scoring thanks to their openside flank Shane Dalton, who dotted down off the back of a rolling maul. From there, they continued to overwhelm the Saints‘ defence for the remainder of the first half.
Quick distribution down the backline resulted in right-wing Ethan Francke and fullback Lwandile Khupe breaking through for their tries.
After the break, Saints went up a couple of gears. A little shy of 10 minutes into the second half, they had a go from the base of a ruck just two metres out, leading to outside centre Reece Hubner grounding the ball at full stretch in a tackle to get the visitors’ score moving.
Those few extra inches he made in the try-scoring carry set off a chain reaction, and his peers also started getting over the gain line more often. It came as no surprise when his try was named the “Suzuki Game Changer Moment of the Match”.
It was, however, a “King of the Match” performance from captain and loosehead prop Siphosamandosi Cele that brought the two sides level. After throwing the ball into a lineout, he broke away from a rolling maul to add another five points, and a successful conversion from Matthew Anderson brought the visitors to within seven points of St John’s.
Then, he added a second try by going route one, picking up from the base of a ruck and plunging over the line with defenders draped all over him.
After enduring five consecutive losses, St Benedict’s flyhalf Samuel Sendwe slotted a last-minute penalty at home on Saturday afternoon to steer his side to a narrow 23-20 victory over St David’s Marist Inanda. The visitors had one last chance to pull a rabbit out of the hat from the kickoff after Sendwe’s successful kick, but they knocked on, and the final whistle blew.
It was a fantastic result for Bennies. St David’s had won four successive matches before a narrow 24-26 defeat to St John’s College last weekend, and they were favoured to win.
Last year, St David’s cruised to a 47=5 victory, but the Bedfordview boys racked up a morale-boosting win to add some gloss to their campaign.
While the result didn’t go the visitors’ way, they must be credited with some strong individual performances. Tighthead prop Alessio Joannides was an anchor in the scrums and also played his part around the field, carrying hard, and bagged himself a try for his efforts.
Openside flank Ronin Hallowes and eigthman Matthew Scott also made it over the try line for St David’s.
They contested the breakdowns enthusiastically, especially during the second half, where they were often able to slow down Bennies, thus enabling their defence to organise itself.
Sendwe played a key role in St Benedict’s victory, slotting three penalties and a conversion. He also did a good job of orchestrating the home team’s attack, while captain and eighthman Thando Thembe set a rugged example when leading the forwards and Bennies’ defence.
In addition to his ferocity in cleaning out the breakdowns and making crunching tackles, Thembe also tallied five points by ploughing his way over the try line.
While it was a staunch and cohesive effort from the entire team, the Bedfordview locals could not have clinched the win without Sendwe and Thembe’s confident and composed performances.
Scorers:
St John’s College 21 (21) – Tries: Shane Dalton, Ethan Francke, Lwandile Khupe. Conversions: Alec Psillos (3). St Stithians College 21 (0) – Tries: Siphosamandosi Cele (2), Reece Hubner. Conversions: Matthew Anderson (3).
St Benedict’s College 23 (10) – Tries: Kgotso Mazibuko, Thando Thembe. Conversions: Samuel Sendwe (2). Penalties: Sendwe (3). St David’s Marist College 20 (3) – Tries: Alessio Joannides, Ronin Hallowes, Matthew Scott. Conversion: Claudio D ‘Alessio. Penalty: D ‘Alessio.
Other results:
U19
II: St Benedict’s 42 St David’s 29
III: St Benedict’s 19 St David’s 39
IV: St Benedict’s 38 St David’s 28
U16
A: St Benedict’s 26 St David’s 17
B: St Benedict’s 15 St David’s 12
U15
A: St Benedict’s 13 St David’s 17
B: St Benedict’s 12 St David’s 36
C: St Benedict’s 45 St David’s 7
U14
A: St Benedict’s 10 St David’s 10
B: St Benedict’s 0 St David’s 59
Click here for more King Price Derby Series articles.
