Four teams: Hoerskool Outeniqua, Hilton College, Wynberg Boys' High and Paarl Gimnasium, came through the three days of the St Stithians Easter Rugby Festival with a 100 percent record.
Outeniqua beat Noord Kaap 17-13 on Monday, Hilton scraped home 16-15 against Boland Landbou, Wynberg beat St Stithians 27-18, and Paarl Gim beat St Alban's 52-5 in the final game of the day.
Paarl's 26-0 win over Noord Kaap on day one and their 32-3 defeat of Pretoria on Saturday, along with yesterday's big win over St Alban's were the only really one-sided games of the weekend. Hilton, in fact won two of their games by one point and one by three - showing that festival convener Piet van Tonder got it right, once again, when drawing up the fixtures for this, the 25th edition of the Easter Festival.
Paarl was far too strong for St Alban's. They raced to a 36-0 lead early on and then brought on their reserves, which slowed down the momentum somewhat, but they still won 52-5 in the end.
They scored eight tries - through Helmut Lehman (three), JR Esterhuizen (two), Kyle Wilkinson (two) and Ruan Smith. JH Potgieter kicked six conversions. St Alban's lone try was scored by James Murdoch-Eaton.
Outeniqua, coached by ex-Blue Bulls captain Anton Leonard, have been one of the class acts of the tournament. They were clinical in their execution and, while they never ran up any massive scores, they never looked like losing any of their games - not even the two point victory over Bishops in the rain on Saturday.
Against Noord Kaap, Outeniqua scored tries through Jaco van Tonder, Divandre Strydom and Ettienne Froneman, with Renier de Villiers adding one conversion. Darren Koopman and Paul Erasmus dotted down for Noord Kaap, with Erasmus also slotting a penalty.
Hilton displayed loads of character and good, old fashioned guts to notch up their three victories. In all three, they were defending desperately at the death, without conceding the try which would have meant defeat. On Monday Mark Nolden scored Hilton's try, converted by Garth Gerber, who also kicked three penalties. Boland got tries through Jaco Olivier and Heinrich Steyl, with Edgar van Wyk kicking a penalty and two conversions.
It was a disappointing festival for the hosts, St Stithians. They lost 27-18 to Wynberg - their third straight defeat - and although they showed an improvement across the three games, they leaked tries early on in each game and gave themselves too much to do each time.
Wynberg's tries were scored by Kieran Goss (two) and Andrew Williams. Morne Smith kicked two penalties and three conversions. Nkuli Gamade got two tries for Saints, with Stewart Edmunds adding two penalties and Matthew Tindall a conversion.
In yesterday's other action Parktown showed they will not be a pushover this season. They lost 36-20 to Bishops, but were 22-20 down with five minutes to before Bishops got three late tries. Chezré Arendse got a hat-trick of tries for Bishops, with Zak Prins and Nizaam Carr scoring the others. Paul Cohen kicked a penalty and four conversions. Chad Hanekom an d Mark Botha scored tries for Parktown, both converted by Hanekom, who also kicked two penalties.
Pretoria Boys' High eventually put it together in handing the FNB Invitation side their first defeat. They won 22-8, thanks to tries by John Fourie, Mitch Herman and Louis le Roux. George Kurtz kicked a penalty and conversion and Tiaan van Wyk a conversion.
The invitation side scored a try by Gavern Scheepers and Ryno Olivier kicked a penalty.
Results
Outeniqua 17, Noord Kaap 13; Pretoria Boys' 22, FNB Invitation 8; Hilton 16, Boland Landbou 15; Bishops 36, Parktown 20; Wynberg 27, St Stithians 18; Paarl Gimnasium 52, St Alban's 5