Grey College 52 Grey High 34

A thoroughly entertaining game in Bloem as Grey High do themselves proud

Photo credit: Awsum News

As a proud and passionate Grey High old boy, the only match that fills me with trepidation is Grey College, AWAY. I was lucky enough to play for the First XV in 2002 against a star-studded Grey College side in Port Elizabeth and still have the mental scars from that chastening defeat against Ruan Pienaar, Bismarck du Plessis et al.

The clash between the brother schools, both having been founded by Cape Colony Governor Sir George Grey* in the 1850s, is always a chance for the men in azure blue to win some respect from their hulking ‘siblings’ and every now and then, EVEN record a historic win, just not when we travel to Bloemfontein.

*Sir George Grey also founded Auckland Grammar School, a school who has produced the most All Blacks, a rugby factory in the mould of Grey College in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Build up

Grey High could not have had worse preparation for the long trip to the Free State. Not only had they lost to bitter cross-town rivals Framesby the week before in a harrowing performance in the rain, but they also lost inspirational skipper Ivan Ingram to concussion. In a bid to counter Grey College’s massive pack, burly Jarred Baker replaced Ingram, instead of the more lithe Second XV hooker Imaani Pemba.

Grey College had enjoyed another successful season, having only lost to Paarl Gim at Wildeklawer and surprisingly drawn with Oakdale in an otherwise impressive set of results. Their only concern would be rustiness. In a quirk of the fixture list, and with schools like KES and Maritzburg College pulling out of their arranged fixtures, Grey College went into the match having not played since 28 May against Monnas, a break of more than two months by the time the sides met on 30 July! The game would be an emotional one for the Class of 2022 as this would be their last home game of the season and they would want to send their fans home with something to remember them by!

Nightmare start by Grey High

Grey High made the worst possible start to the game on a beautiful winter’s day in the City of Roses. From a lineout in their 22m, scrumhalf Daylon Myners attempted a box kick to clear his lines but this was charged down by SA Schools lock JF van Heerden who collected the rebound to score handy to the posts and after two minutes the home side led 7 - 0.

Grey High would recover from the horror start to score a brilliant try which started from a set piece inside their half. From a rare solid scrum, enterprising outside centre Kenneth Garrod hit a brilliant line to surge into the Grey College half before the ubiquitous Athenkosi Sipamla took up the cudgels with a brilliant run, which included a Hand of God on van Heerden to take play into the College 22m. Myners sensed a gap and sniped for the line and after three more drives by the forwards, loosehead Matabielie crashed over to stun the Grey College crowd and suddenly the scores were level at 7 - 7 after 8 minutes.

Grey College frustrated

The home side would restore their lead through two tries that their territory and possession dominance warranted but Grey High were proving a stubborn outfit, particularly at the breakdown.

When Grey College scored their third try in 22nd minute, they held a comfortable 19 - 7 lead and looked on course for a routine win. They were running the ball from everywhere, eschewing the chances to take easy three pointers, showing that they did not respect this Grey High side. As could have been expected, they lacked cohesion when throwing the ball around, with a number of promising movements coming to nothing through handling errors in the wide channels. Grey College were particularly dominant at scrum time, whereas the lineouts were more evenly contested.

Against all pre-match expectations, Grey High were within touching distance at half-time, thanks to two penalties by unerring flyhalf Byron Forword, to go with their excellent try as the teams went into the break with the score at 19 - 13 in favour of the home side. Grey High would have to do without EP Craven Week wing Luvuyo Nkomphela who was knocked out cold late in the first half.

Helter Skelter second half as tries rain down

The sides produced a thrilling second half of entertainment as the scoreboard operators were kept busy. In a dazzling period of 25 minutes, a total of eight tries were shared!

Grey College struck first in the second half, when livewire SA Schools flank Lukas Meyer scored a great individualistic try. Having won a jackal penalty at the breakdown, he took the penalty quickly and ran through opposing captain Jake Barnard on his way to the tryline untouched to extend the lead to 26 - 13.

Grey High fought back again when, from an attacking scrum on the 5m line, Garrod ran a line Huw Jones would have been proud of for a great first phase try, the Grey College midfield defence having no way of stopping him from so close to the line. The score was now 26 - 20, ten minutes into the second half, the visitors surprising friend and foe alike with their display to this point.

Any hopes of a shock victory for Grey High were extinguished shortly thereafter as Grey College re-asserted their dominance through two tries, one of which was a penalty try and resulted in a yellow card for Grey High right wing Oliphant. The other was a typical Grey College effort, scoring from deep against the run of play. With Grey High on the attack deep in the opposition 22m, Forword knocked the ball cold and from the resulting scrum on their own 5m line, the hosts went the length of the field to take the game away once and for all. Grey College scrumhalf Caleb Abrahams went down the short side to replacement Janco Scheepers who then collected his kick ahead as he burned the Grey High cross cover to score a sensational solo try and take the score out to 40 - 20.

Grey High’s unstoppable maul brings respectability to the final score

Grey High’s most impressive facet of their game in 2022 was undoubtedly their cohesive and destructive maul. They bullied many sides in this area and then even did so here against the might of Grey College! They would get two tries from the maul in the final quarter of the game, one being a penalty try and the other a good forward effort finished by replacement hooker Pemba.

These two converted tries came either side of two more Grey College tries as they took advantage of basic errors from Grey High in the form of a poor kick-off receipt and a stolen lineout.

In a period of play which epitomised the spirit the game was played in, the ball was kept in play for around two minutes near the end of the match with possession changing hands four times before the home side knocked on in contact. Players were strewn all over the field as they gave their all in this classic clash.

The final score of 52 - 34 reflects the adventurous nature of the game as both sides clearly had come to play and treated the spectators to an epic contest. Grey High did themselves proud in refusing to let the scoreboard get too far away from them and scored some good tries against their much-vaunted opponents who were fully loaded with all their SA Schools representatives in their last game for their school.

Standout performers on the day

For Grey College it was the usual suspects who shone on the day. In the pack, JF van Heerden was excellent in the lineout and with ball in hand, whilst Lukas Meyer was brilliant at the breakdown and always on hand to take a quick tap penalty. No. 8 JJ Theron also carried strongly when given the opportunity.

In the backs, Caleb Abrahams made a couple of errors off the boot but sniped well for a try and was always a threat on attack. Fullback Gunter Janse van Rensburg ran everything from deep and made many metres for his side.

The Grey High pack battled well all day, with flank Athi Sipamla particularly impressive with ball in hand and No. 8 Jake Barnard won a surfeit of lineout possession, steering the effective maul commandingly.

In the backs, outside centre Garrod ran brilliant lines all game and defended well, he was a revelation in 2022. Flyhalf Forword was excellent off the tee, nailing all six attempts at goal. Scrumhalf Myners showed some good touches, but frustratingly made a number of errors and poor kick choices on the day.