King Edward take on St John’s College in school derby match up
HOUGHTON - King Edward VII School ran in nine tries as they hammered their arch rivals St John's College 59–10 in a fiercely contested derby.
The long-standing traditional fixture between the two schools started in 1932 and since then the schools have played 95 matches, with King Edward VII School (KES), affectionately known as The Reds, winning 65 of those matches.
The Reds were the first to break the deadlock in the first three minutes of the game when fullback Kennedy Mpeku crossed the white line but missed the conversion.
The Reds continued to dominate the opening phase of the game and bagged two more tries, courtesy of Mpeku and Kyle Mills. Mpeku converted both tries.
St John’s College, popularly known as the Blue Army, gained some momentum towards the half-hour mark and piled on the pressure, but The Reds’ defence stood tall.
In the 35th minute, Mpeku was once again in the thick of things as he blazed through the blue’s defence, beating five players before he laid off for Mpho Nkambule to dot down.
At halftime KES led 21–0.
The second half saw more of the same as The Reds continued to bully their neighbours with Temba Mpevu dotting down for his first try and Mpeku converted.
The Blue Army showed more intent in the second half of the game and were rewarded with two tries, but failed to convert both of them.
The Reds continued their onslaught as Sihle Msomi, Temba Mpevu (2) and Ricci Marussi crossed the chalk to add more blues to the Blue Army.
Mpeku who was arguably the best player on the day has been in fine form this season, he contributed 24 points to teams score.
Red Rugby: KES vs St John’s
1st 59-10
2nd 19-5
3rd 53-34
4th 24-14
5th 35-20
16A 22-22
16B 5-7
16C 14-17
15A 29-21
15B 78-0
15C 54-0
15D 65-7
14A 60-3
14B 55-0
14C 44-0
16 games played, the red machine won 13, drew 1 and lost 2.
