Wrap: Derby glory for Paarl Boys, KES

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Paarl Boys’ High held on for a thrilling Interschools victory over Paarl Gimnasium, while Grey College and Johannesburg’s KES also tasted derby victories in an action-packed Saturday of schools rugby.

Having taken a 9-3 lead into the break thanks to the boot of flyhalf Thurlon Williams, Paarl Boys’ claimed a 26-24 win after time ran out on Paarl Gim’s late comeback attempt.

SA Schools centre Shah-Jehaan de Jongh and No 8 Hugo-Ben Horn both scored second-half tries for Boishaai, while Williams added a drop goal for an individual haul of 16 points.

Horn’s decisive try will be heavily debated over the years as replays, which were not available to the match officials, showed that he had knocked on while attempting to score after collecting his charge down of a kick from Gim captain PA van Niekerk.

Gim kept themselves in the contest as lock Danio Botha powered over the tryline before scrumhalf Emrique Liedeman finished off a brilliantly worked team try. With just seconds left on the clock, outside centre Janiel Losper gave Paarl Gim hope as he burst across the tryline, with Liam Koen’s conversion making it a two-point game.

However, Boishaai managed to win a breakdown penalty from the subsequent kickoff and the school’s old boys flooded the field.

The victory was Paarl Boys’ High head coach Sean Erasmus’ fifth straight win over Paarl Gim, dating back to 2015.

In other results on Saturday, Grey College proved far too strong once again for Eastern Cape rivals Grey High in a 52-34 win in Bloemfontein. Further north, KES claimed a narrow 19-16 win against Jeppe in the big Johannesburg derby.

Western Cape
Bishops 29 Durbanville 28
Boland Landbou 17 Stellenberg 27
Milnerton 7 SACS 43
Oakdale 3 Paul Roos 13
Paarl Gimnasium 24 Paarl Boys High 26
Rondebosch 57 Parel Vallei 20
Wynberg 61 Tygerberg 12

Eastern Cape
Framesby 27 HTS Drostdy 24
Grey High 34 Grey College 52
Queen’s College 12 Selborne 14

KwaZulu-Natal
Glenwood 41 Welkom Gim 31
Maritzburg 50 Pretoria Boys High 26

Gauteng
Affies 60 Waterkloof 15
KES 19 Jeppe 16
Helpmekaar 12 Monument 34
Garsfontein 42 Noordheuwel 32

Photo: Poppie Terblanche

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Dylan Jack