Although the first rugby team of the Northern Cape High School in Kimberley lost all three of their matches during the recent Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival, valuable experience and exposure were gained.
The Northern Cape team scored 7 – 59 against the team of the Dr. E.G. Jansen High School from Boksburg; 22 – 31 against the Nico Malan High School (Humansdorp); and 26 – 30 in their third and last match against the Marlow Agricultural High School (Cradock).
This year’s rugby festival, hosted on the Kearsney’s campus on Botha’s Hill between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, kicked off on Thursday, 28 March, and ended on Monday, 1 April.
On day one the Dr E.G. Jansen team were far too strong for the Northern Cape. The latter showed some potential at times, particularly in their offensive one-on-one battles. Point scorers for the Northern Cape in this match were Tyron China (tries) and Tequine Koopman (conversion). A yellow card was issued to Shaw Lourens
On day two, the Northern Cape team met with Nico Malan. Both sides had losses on the first day, but gave a highly entertaining match-up. Scorers for the Northern Cape were Elrin Morkel, Jayden Potgieter, Jonaden Links, Ambijorn Vraagom (tries), and Tequine Koopman (conversion).
On day three, the Marlow team beat the Northern Cape team. Jonaden Links opened the scoring for Northern Cape after accelerating in from close range. The Kimberley-based side were as physical as ever at set piece time, and were awarded a penalty try after Marlow illegally brought down a driving maul just out from their try line.
An Abdul Fisher touchdown kept Northern Cape in the game, before they were awarded their second penalty try of the morning. Point scorers for Northern Cape were Jonaden Links (tries) and Abdul Fisher (penalty try and conversion).
The organisers and sponsors of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival believe that school rugby not only plays an invaluable role in the development of South Africa’s rugby culture, it also instils the values of sportsmanship, teamwork, resilience, and respect in young players.