The 2025 Chronicle

RESULTS TEAM

what has become a real cauldron of a venue. The boys came out firing, playing some great rugby, and scored an early try by scrumhalf Dan Aissing. We dominated early possession and territory, nearly scoring another try, but unfortunately lost the ball while going over the line. Northwood worked their way back into the game and then clinched it with a heartbreaking penalty deep into injury time. Our third and final game of the first quarter was at home against a powerful DHS team. The boys came out of the blocks firing again and raced into a 14-3 lead thanks to a brilliant try by Laird Hamilton-Brown and three Stefan Moolman penalties. A few errors then resulted in DHS scoring a couple of opportu nistic tries and taking the lead. They were 28-22 ahead when lightning called a halt to the game with about five minutes left on the clock. We were unable to resume playing and the score remained as the result. A squad of 24 boys travelled down to the Eastern Cape along with our age-group A teams to play Bishops and hosts Grey High in Gqeberha. The fixture against Grey was the main game on Saturday and was played in front of a fantastic crowd, mostly supporting the home side. The hosts had the lead for most of the game despite wonderful tries by William Ridl and Aissing and three penalties by Jankowitz. We were 23-28 down at the fi nal hooter and were allowed to throw in at the lineout. The boys kept possession through multiple phases all the way from our 10-yard line right into their 22m, and Rourke O’Sullivan scored a brilliant try to level the scores. We unfortunately missed the conversion from the corner and drew 28-28. Our Monday game against Bishops got off to a bad start when we conceded a brace of early tries, effectively putting us out of the contest. Their all-out attack proved difficult to defend against. It was a real pity because there had been a buzz about the game after our win on their Piley Rees field in 2024. We managed to claw our way back through tries by Ridl, Noah Bates and Lwandle Nzama, but went down 17-25. Our tour then moved on to Makhanda, where our age-group A teams and First XV lined up against our St Andrew’s coun terparts on their Lower field. It was a fantastic way to finish the tour in a picturesque setting against our Anglican brother school. The games were all evenly matched, including the First XV encounter. We went ahead in the first half playing some bril liant rugby and scoring three tries though Ridl, Nzama and Oli ver Guy. St Andrew’s clawed their way back into the game in the second half, levelling the score at 22-22, which ended up being the final score. It was a disappointing result because we felt we should have closed out the game, but it had nevertheless been a wonderful tour, with memories made. The squad enjoyed a short April holiday before reconvening in Johannesburg for the St Stithians festival. We had drawn St John’s, Harare, on the Thursday, and the hosts for the main game on the Saturday. Our opening game started a little slowly before the boys found great rhythm in perfect playing condi tions, scoring ten fantastic tries. Ridl, our captain, dotted down twice, and the rest were scored by Guy, big lock Daniel Carr, Ol iver Davis, flyhalf Moolman and wingers Hamilton-Brown, Bates and Nzama. The team enjoyed their day’s rest and recovery and were fired up for their game against St Stithians after an inspiring talk and jersey presentation by ex-Springbok and Wigan rugby league winger Ray Mordt. The hosts were clearly well prepared and motivated for the game in front of a packed crowd, and

P

W

D 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

L

PF

PA

WR %

16 11 11 11 10 10

4 5 8 8 9 9 7 2 2 9 7 5 6 3 7 7 7 5 1 7 4 4 3 1

10

461 380 322 303 287 365 299 104 428 254 177 229 128 372 194 230 245 103 311 173 200 154 154 91

395 25 230 45 148 73 142 73

1ST XV

4 3 3 1 1 2 4 2 7 4 5 4 3 9 4 3 5 6 9 7 6 6 2

2ND XV 3RD XV 4TH XV 5TH XV 6TH XV 7TH XV 8TH XV 9TH XV

80 46 95

90 90 78

9 6 4

121 33

92

50

16 11 10 10 16 11 10 10 16 11 10 10 6 7

342 56 210 64 177 50 178 60 283 44 163 64 119 70 182 50 153 14 288 44 262 36 275 40 282 30 282 33 91 50

U16A U16B U16C U16D U16E U15A U15B U15C U15D U15E U14A U14B U14C U14D U14E TOTAL

3

245 131 7

107 5964 4636 53

FIRST XV

There was much excitement and anticipa tion for the 2025 season, with 16 games to look forward to, including a tour to the Eastern Cape and another visit to the St Stithians Easter festival. As many as 11 First XV capped players were returning from 2024, and there was intense competition for places during the preseason training. We faced the seasonal challenge of being able to fully prepare for the start of the season, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm. Helpmekaar returned for the season opener for the fourth year in succession, and just like the previous visits they proved to be tough opponents, and therefore perfect prepa ration for the season. We showed signs of early-season flair, with Alex Jankowitz scoring a fantastic try on his debut, but overall were not cohesive enough to achieve a win over them, losing 10-17. We then travelled down to Durban North to play Northwood in

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