Itembelihle Win Die Burger's Small Schools
Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:43
Champions: The victorious Itembelihle side
Itembelihle qualified for the final of the annual Die Burger newspaper’s inter provincial competition for small schools by thrashing last years finalists, George High by 48-3. Itembelihle travelled to George for the final against the Western Province/Boland champions Excelsior High, whom they beat 30-5.
The day before the game it rained in George for the first time in a long while! The game was played early on Saturday morning (8:30). The rain had stopped but the field and surroundings were very wet!
Itembelihle won the toss and elected to play against the slight breeze. The first twenty minutes were very even, the wet ball made handling very difficult and both teams made several handling errors. Coyi Banda opened the scoring with an easy penalty. 3-0. Then Itembelihle strung a couple of phases together for flyhalf Banda to dive over in the corner. He just failed to convert his own try. Just before half-time Itembelihle flank, Sive Fuku went over from turnover ball to score next to the posts. Banda converted. 15-0. Itembelihle fullback, Mbembe Payi, was dangerous every time they kicked the ball on him and his darting runs often had the defence grasping in the air.
Excelsior came back strongly in the second half and were rewarded with a penalty, but flyhalf Heinrich Zass was unsuccessful with the easy kick. Excelsior fought hard and impressed with the pick and drive of the forwards. Scrumhalf Devon Beukes was a handful behind the scrum and hardworking flank Marlon Petersen often caught the eye with his strong runs.
Itembelihle were next to score when wing Xolani Falakhe ran through after Itembelihle had taken the ball through several phases. Itembelihle’s big flank and captain Zingisa April thrilled the crowd with his bullocking runs and it often took a couple of defenders to put him down. Hooker Godfrey Ndongeni impressed with his big tackles, one of which stopped huge prop Antonio Solomon’s in his tracks! The try of the game came when Itembelihle turned over possession inside their own half and set up a couple of phases before the ball went out to loosehead prop John Magenuke who simply brushed aside all defenders and ran straight through from the halfway line to dive over under the poles. Payi converted, 30-0.
Excelsior would not give up and attacked relentlessly and flank Petersen was rewarded for his hard work when he scored in the corner. Zass failed to convert.
For the winners, Zingisa April, Ndongeni, Banda and Payi played well and for the losers the hard working Petersen, Solomon and centre Charl Jones caught the eye.
Itembelihle will now play in this weekend's Sevens tournament at Muir College and next weekend’s @lantic Sevens at Daniël Pienaar before they take part in the annual provincial Peter Mkata competition for districts in Port Elizabeth from 23-27 September and they finish their season when they take part in the Dennis Botha top 16 schools in East London at the end of September!
Scorers:
For Itembelihle:
Tries: Coyi Banda, Sive Fuku, Xolani Falakhe, John Magenuke
Cons: Coyi Banda, Mbembe Payi
Pens: Coyi Banda 2
For Excelsior:
Try: Marlon Petersen
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