The sun has shone brightly on the first two days of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival (KERF) and the schoolboys have responded with exciting rugby and some cliffhanger finishes.
KZN schools Durban High School and Westville have been classy and look certain to go unbeaten. The former team plays Dubanville on Monday (the final day) and the latter are up against Rustenburg.
DHS outplayed Hoërskool Monument 32-17 in the last game of Day 2 to keep alive their hopes of going three-for-three at KERF for a second straight year.
The Horseflies had put Hoërskool Rustenburg away 41-7 on the first day, while Monument played out an exciting 26-all draw with Glenwood and were looking for their first win of the Easter weekend.
Kearsney College saw off Dale College 34-13 to win the fifth game of Day 2, in front of a large and vocal crowd with plenty of support for both teams.
The hosts were beaten 24-29 by Hoërskool Dr EG Jansen on Thursday, while the Eastern Cape side were coming off the back of a 66-22 loss at the hands of Hoërskool Durbanville, but it was the former that managed to return to winning ways, thanks to some clinical finishing.
Former Sharks assistant coach Grant Bashford’s boys scored both of their opening tries through clever use of cross-kicks.
Westville’s supreme tactical awareness powered them to a 36-5 win over Hoërskool Dr EG Jansen in the fourth game of Day 2.
Egies had narrowly knocked over hosts Kearsney College 29-24 on the first day, while the KZN side cantered to a 31-0 opening win over Hoërskool Framesby, with many expecting this one to be a tightly-fought affair. As it happened, the Boksburg team struggled to play in the right areas and were often pinned back in their own half by the local provincial team.
Joshua Kopp kicked a penalty after the final hooter as Glenwood held off a Milnerton fightback to secure a thrilling 37-34 win in a humdinger of a third match on Day 2.
Framesby secured a comfortable 45-19 win over Peterhouse in the second match of Day 2.
Both sides were searching for their first victory of KERF after the Gqeberha boys were put to the sword in a 0-31 drubbing by Westville, while the Zimbabwean school had suffered an 18-34 defeat to Milnerton in their opener on Thursday.
In the opening game of Day 2, Hoërskool Rustenburg claimed a dramatic 26-22 win over Durbanville.
The Western Cape outfit had picked up a big 66-22 win over Dale College on Thursday and were looking to maintain that momentum heading into the second day. Rustenburg, meanwhile, were on the receiving end of a 41-7 defeat against DHS in their opener, but produced a stoic display to come away with the spoils on Saturday.
DAY 3 Fixtures MONDAY 21 APRIL
08h00 Monument v Milnerton
09h20 Glenwood v Dale College
10h4 Framesby v Dr EG Jansen
12h50 Closing ceremony
13h00 DHS v Durbanville
14h20 Westville v Rustenburg
15h40 Kearsney College v Peterhouse Boys.