By Johnathan Paoli
Grey College has shone again as one of South Africa’s leading school rugby teams with a commanding 59-26 victory over Grey High School.
Playing as part of an annual inter-school derby in Bloemfontein on Saturday, Grey High from Gqeberha put up strong resistance against their hosts, Grey College, but could not keep up.
Grey High made a strong start with a powerful rolling maul, as hooker Micah Wessels crossed for the opening try after sustained forward pressure to give the visitors an early lead.
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Grey College responded in kind and the opening exchanges developed into a fiercely contested battle, with the hosts holding only a narrow 14-12 advantage after 18 minutes.
The contest, however, swung dramatically in the closing stages of the first half.
Wessels struck again after another well-executed driving maul to keep Grey High firmly in the contest, but the momentum shifted moments later when the visitors fumbled the restart.
Grey College wing Jaco Oosthuizen reacted quickest to collect possession before sprinting away for his second try of the afternoon.
With time already up on the clock, scrumhalf Jonathan Drysdale produced one of the standout moments of the match.
Collecting possession from a scrum deep inside his own half, he accelerated through a gap before weaving past multiple defenders in a run to score beneath the posts.
Instead of trailing by only two points at the interval, Grey High suddenly found themselves 26-12 behind after a remarkable swing in fortunes.
The visitors refused to surrender after the restart with wing Noah Mbizi reducing the deficit to 26-19, giving Grey High renewed hope that they could work their way back into the contest.
But applying sustained pressure through both their forwards and backs, Grey College began converting their opportunities into points.
Three unanswered tries followed in quick succession as the Bloemfontein side stretched their lead to 45-19 with just 12 minutes remaining, effectively putting the result beyond doubt.
Grey High’s commitment was rewarded with another try, but Grey College never allowed their intensity to drop.
The hosts added two further converted tries in the final two minutes to cap an impressive performance on the day.
Oosthuizen finished with two tries, while Xander de Beer also crossed twice.
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Drysdale’s spectacular long-range effort was complemented by further tries from Christoff Crous, Lamla Mgedezi, Henru Erasmus and AJ Hendriks.
Crous was equally influential with the boot, landing seven conversions.
For Grey High, Wessels’ brace highlighted the effectiveness of the visitors’ rolling maul, while Mbizi and Zola Yeye also crossed the whitewash.
Although the result belonged to Grey College, the weekend celebrated far more than the outcome on the scoreboard.
In a message shared after the fixture, Grey College thanked their long-time rivals for contributing to another memorable chapter in one of South African school rugby’s traditional rivalries.
“This was a weekend where two proud schools with strong history, traditions, and brotherhood came together in the true spirit of sport,” the school said.
“To Grey High School, thank you for making the journey to Bloemfontein. Thank you for competing with passion, giving your very best, and displaying outstanding sportsmanship throughout the weekend. It was an honour to host you at Grey College,” it added.
The school also thanked supporters, sponsors, parents, staff and learners for helping make the occasion a success.
