Jeppe No 8 Hachivah Dayimani scored a last-minute try to give the festival hosts a dramatic 21-20 win against Maritzburg College on Saturday.

Jeppe trailed 14-0 after Maritzburg scored two tries through left wing Stah Lithgow and outside centre Sthembo Mpanza, which were converted by flyhalf Ruben van Blerk.

Dayimani eventually got his side on the board with his first try, with centre Wandisile Simelane kicking the conversion.

Both kickers then exchanged penalties as Maritzburg led 17-10 at half-time, with the visitors' tighthead prop Henry Wickens being yellow-carded just before the break.

Another two penalties from Simelane reduced the deficit to just one, before he was also sin-binned.

Van Blerk's penalty gave Maritzburg a 20-16 lead, but they tried to run the ball from inside their 22 in the final minute, Jeppe received a penalty and Dayimani scored to snatch victory.

Maritzburg coach Kevin Smith slammed the referee after the match.

'We were simply blown away,' he told SARugbymag.co.za. 'Several decisions went against us and we received a yellow card that we didn't deserve. We were the better team today, but we failed to take the game away from them and didn't take the points when they were on offer.' 

Jeppe coach Janse van der Ryst was satisfied with his team's performance.

'We did well to win. It was a hard match and we pulled through, but we need to work on securing the ball from set phases.'

In other results, Parktown Boys' late comeback was in vain as they lost 38-31 to Westville, Bishops beat KES 33-15 and Pretoria Boys' claimed a 24-17 win against DHS.

Saturday results:

Pretoria Boys' 24 DHS 17
Westville 38 Parktown 31
Bishops 33 KES 15
Jeppe 21 Maritzburg College 20

Monday fixtures:

Parktown Boys vs Maritzburg College (10:00)

Jeppe Boys vs DHS (11:20)

Pretoria Boys' vs Bishops (12:40)
KES vs Westville Boys (14:00)

All South African schools results

Photo: Jeppe