Redemption for The Reds on Day1 of their Easter Festival

 

If you scripted a scenario for game in which the King Edward Reds laid the ghost of Stellenbosch to rest, once and for all, you could not have done a better job than what actually transpired in the final game of the opening day of the 21^st Standard Bank KES Easter Festival in Houghton on Saturday.

They put an end to their run of defeats with a 20-17 win over Rondebosch, and they did it at home, in front of a capacity crowd. Rondebosch came to Joburg unbeaten, with some big scalps on their belt and people are expecting them to finish right near the top of the rankings this year.

They may still do that – it certainly looked that way when they went straight on the attack from the kickoff and scored a try in the opening minute. What happened next must have surprised them, however. They came up against the most bloody-minded and courageous defensive effort that you are likely to see in a long time, with wave after wave of attack being repulsed on the Reds goal line.

When KES did eventually break break free, they went down to the other end and centre Sam Smith forced his way over under a pile of bodies for KES to take the lead. Bosch got another try soon after that, before Regan McGurk put the home side ahead, 14-10, a lead they never relinquished.

As much as anything, that defensive effort showed that the stumble against Paarl Gim was just a blip, and that this team does indeed have heaps of heart and courage, and that the boys certainly do know how to stop big runners in their tracks.

KES added two later penalties and led 20-10 for almost all of the second half before Rondebosch got a late try following a flurry of penalties going their way.

It was a great ending to what was one of the best days of festival rugby at KES in many years.

In the curtain-raiser, Jeppe also laid a ghost to rest following their 50-point defeat to Monument last weekend. Their skilful backs really turned it on and they scored six tries in their 38-17 win over Selborne.

The Affies vs Noordheuwel clash was billed as possibly the game of the day, and it didn’t disappoint. The sides are two of heavyweights up in this part of the country and they went at each other, hammer and tongs, for three quarters of the game before Affies scored two late tries to draw clear and win 45-27. The score was 26-15 to Affies at halftime and they were 31-27 up with 10 minutes to go.

In earlier action, the Hudson Park vs Eldoraigne clash was a thriller. It was a contrast of styles – direct play and big forwards from Eldoraigne and all-out trick running from Hudson Park. The sides swopped tries throughout the second half, with Hudson coming out ahead 32-26 at the end – a result that was popular with the big crowd that had begun to accumulate.

Northwood was too strong for Pearson in the opening game of the day, winning 61-27. Pearson’s scrumhalf, Denilo Jordaan, did score the try of the day, however. He took a tap penalty behind the goal line in the tuckshop corner, and weaved his way through the entire opposition team, to score under the scoreboard – you don’t see that every day.

Parktown was brave to start with against Queens College, but they couldn’t deal with the elusive running of the Queens backs and the went down 47-15.

I don’t recall seeing a bigger crowd at the festival and they got their money’s worth. Sunday is a rest day and we there will be more of the same on Monday.