Paarl Gimnasium held out to secure an 18-16 victory over Grey College, while there were also wins for Paarl Boys High, Stellenberg and Outeniqua at the Monument Centenary Festival on Saturday.

Schoolboys rugby made a welcome return over the weekend as Hoerskool Monument celebrated their centenary with the three-day festival.

The first day of play on Friday featured entertaining wins for EG Jansen, Menlopark, Garsfontein and Affies.

On day two on Saturday some of the big Cape schools took the field and the action did not disappoint. Milnerton and Northcliff opened the day for the 1st XV teams and it was the Western Cape school that came out on top with a 66-19 win.

In the highlights of Saturday’s action, Paarl Boys’ High walked away with a 59-21 win over Welkom Gim, thanks to a strong second-half performance. Welkom certainly put Paarl Boys through their paces, trailing their opponents by just two points at half time (23-21).

Grey College faced Paarl Gimnasium in a resumption of their north-south rivalry. A tight but tense encounter was ultimately decided by the kickers as Grey had the opportunity to tie the scores at 18-18 after scoring a try, but missed the conversion attempt. Grey launched a late attack from their own 22 in overtime, but excellent defence from Gim enforced a late error.

In the final match of the day the hosts were up against HTS Drostdy. While it was a closely-fought opening period between the two teams, Drostdy were able to open up an early 8-0 lead. Monument responded with three tries of their own to take a 21-11 lead into the break. Monument extended their lead to 28-16, but Drostdy scored a fourth try to make it a nervous finish. However, Monument held on to come away with a well-earned 28-26 win.

The Centenary Festival will resume on Monday, with St John’s College taking on Milnerton, Noord-Kaap against Nelspruit and HTS Drostdy facing Ben Vorster.

RESULTS:

Day 1 (Friday)

EG Jansen 31 (7) Ben Voster 15 (7)

Menlopark 40 (23) St John’s College 24 (7)

Garsfontein 33 (26) Nelspruit 17 (14)

Affies 19 (5) Noord-Kaap 7 (0)

Day 2 (Saturday)

Milnerton 66 Northcliff 19

Pretoria Boys High 15 Rustenburg 41

Outeniqua 29 Noordheuwel 17

Helpmekaar 12 Stellenberg 34

Paarl Boys High 59 Welkom Gim 21

Grey College 16 Paarl Gim 18

Monument 28 HTS Drostdy 26

MONDAY FIXTURES

10am – St John’s College vs Milnerton

11:30am – Noord Kaap vs Nelspruit

1pm – Monument U16 vs Paarl Boys High U16

2:30pm HTS Drostdy vs Ben Vorster

Photo: Johan Orton/Saspa