Penryn rugby boys make history

This year is the first time the first team boys retained their title as the best medium school team in Mpumalanga.

July 30, 2016

2 minutes read

Penryn College’s first rugby team retained their title as Mpumalanga’s best medium-school team on Saturday. For the first year ever, both the first and second teams have been crowned provincial winners too.

The school hosted the provincial finals of the competitive league, in which 10 schools competed. In the final, the first team beat Hoërskool Kanonkop by 40 points to 32.

Penryn’s excutive head Mr Chris Erasmus congratulated the boys. “This is a very proud moment for Penryn College to have both the first and second rugby teams win their league this season.

“It was very good to watch the season’s rugby matches and experience the camaraderie and good sportsmanship between the players, both on and off the sports field.

“The final in particular was a wonderful match in which both teams played extremely hard, competitive schoolboy rugby. Both Kanonkop and Penryn players and coaches need to be complimented on the excellent rugby played and the spirit in which it was played.”

Both Penryn and Kanonkop were unbeaten in the league this season and had never played each other before, said Penryn head of rugby Graeme Stewart.

Read more: Penryn rugby teams draw strength from lessons

The first team match started at a high tempo with Penryn showing good ball retention. The multiple phases put the Kanonkop defence under pressure and Penryn showed good skill by changing the direction of play. Full back Ernest Mthethwa ran over for the first try of the match.

“Kanonkop opened their scoring through a couple of penalties. The Penryn forwards demonstrated good handling skills and their continuity of play opened up gaps in the Kanonkop defence.

“The continued pressure got Penryn’s wing Ya Ya Nguthshane over the try line for Penryn’s second. Kanonkop took advantage of Penryn napping on their blindside defence to run over for a try just before half-time.”

The half-time score was 13-12 to Kanonkop, but after an advisory team talk Penryn started to play more running rugby. The forwards attacked from the fringes to sucking in the opposition’s defence.

“This fast pace proved too much for Kanonkop with our eighth man scoring a try from good continuity of play,” Stewart said.

“Penryn did not always protect the ball in contact and these errors allowed Kanonkop an opportunistic try to get them back on the scoreboard. With 10 minutes left to play, the home side were up by one point.

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“It was clear that the next team to score would be the champions. Kanonkop had good possession on the Penryn five-metre line, but Penryn showed solid defence and discipline in not conceding a try and by way of some good ground work by their flankers, managed a turnover and executed a clean exit plan.

“Penryn were awarded a five-metre scrum with two minutes to play. Eighth man Petresco Jardim picked up from the base of the scrum and beat two defenders to make the crucial score.”

He added that is was a pleasure to see their commitment. “It is great to see them develop on and off the field. We are trying to develop quality young men and not just rugby players.”

The first team captain Hadrick Coertze and Jardim won the man of the match awards.

Penryn will now play in the Beeld Trophy quarter-finals on Saturday August 1 against the winner of the Beeld qualifying round – which will be either Hoërskool Ben Viljoen (Limpopo) or Stoffberg (Valke).