A maroon ‘remontada’ under the sun added to a high-scoring derby-day
From 36-14 down Roos battled to win, while Grey restored their home form in a high scoring battle against Affies and Selborne clinched a tight home win versus Dale College
Lamla Mgedezi with one of two tries he scored on the day, and one of over 10 tries scored between Affies and Grey in a thrilling encounter - Photo credits: https://www.instagram.com/kingpricederbyseries/ )
The King Price Derby Series once again delivered this past Saturday, cultivating classics from around the country. In the spotlight; the City of Roses hosted a derby that first started in 1923 between Grey Bloem and Affies, a Western Province clash between Boland Landbou and Paul Roos produced a scintillating spectacle and finally Selborne played hosts to Dale College.
In front of the adoring Bloemfontein crowd, Grey were desperate for a response after tough-to-take losses against the Paarl pair of Paarl Gimnasium and Paarl Boys’ High. The former of which, breaking an eight year home unbeaten run. Although, Affies were coming to Bloem on a high after recently being ranked third in the country as of the 12th of May. Grey on the other hand had dropped to 5th. A shock sight for many. So with tensions high, a lot to play for and a sunny day in the City of Roses, huge implications were bound to occur. Affies would start best however, the side spurred on by a huge away support and what school stalwart George Atterbury termed as “Affie Guts” (https://www.instagram.com/kingpricederbyseries/ ).
The away side would sprint into two separate 10 point leads throughout the first 35, but hampered by a yellow card, Grey College would be allowed the chance to respond well. Huge tries by Ethan Adams and Lamla Mgedezi would see Grey battle to a 21-17 lead at the break. The next 35 would be ruled mainly by the hosts, with Mgedezi and Adams stepping up once more with a try apiece, with the help of another big Darius Erwee showing, to settle any nerves of another home defeat. Affies would respond with a brace of tries in the last few minutes, but rightly so in the end, the game would go Grey’s way. 42-37, it ended once the dust settled.
Building on that high-scoring classic, the hosting city of Paarl would be treated to another 75+ point display. Keen to bounce back from a derby defeat to Paarl Gim, Roos traveled a mere 30 kilometres north to play Boland Landbou. Ranked ten spots below Paul Roos, the home side were intent on a huge upset. Just like Affies had done, Boland raced into an early lead, this time 14-0 within the first 10. Paul Roos would respond eight
minutes later, but a magical 40 yard penalty from Jayden Brits and superb second try from Brits would propel Boland into a 24-7 shock lead at the break. Desperate for an early try, Paul Roos would find it through Zak Hickman and the conversion from Travis Pheiffer would mean the score was 24-14 with the majority of the second half still left to play out. Boland would once more gain the game’s momentum with another charge down try followed by a try from Jason Ocks to send the Paarl crowd into ecstasy and surely shut down any growing hopes from the Paul Roos squad of a comeback. Now down 36-14 with just under 20 minutes to play. However, the Spanish would call it a ‘remontada’, the men in red from Manchester would call it ‘Fergie Time’, regardless, a ‘terugkeer’ occurred. One for the books. Four unanswered tries from the maroon machine stunned the home support into silence. With three coming in the final ten and a penalty try being awarded within the final five seconds of the clash. Luke Kent scored the first of the four, after a poor lineout from Boland, Keenan Stoffels adding the second after 61 minutes of action, Altus Rabe with the third in the last five before finally Paul Roos would crash over the line and be awarded a penalty try just as the clock ticked to 70. A huge effort from the determined maroons to see a 40-36 win go their way. In the most dramatic of ways.
The final derby-day fixture saw Selborne host Dale College in another close affair. Despite the try ladden first two derbies, this game would see just one five pointer dotted down. Five successful penalties from Selborne’s Bungqina Nuku in the end clinched the tight and tense match-up and put the game just out of reach from the traveling Dale XV, despite a last minute converted try. Despite the day being headlined by these three clashes, other notable match-ups were present from around the country. Stellenburg completed a famous ‘Grand Slam’ over the four South Suburbs giants after a comprehensive away win on the Piley-Rees against Bishops, 38-13. A first ever away win against Bishops in their history. Also in the south, Rondebosch responded well against SACS, after being humiliated 9-1 in the ‘Friday Nite Lights’ hockey spectacle, winning 40-17. In KZN; DHS, Northwood and Hilton won big while St. Andrews went down to Queen’s 38-17 in the Eastern Cape. Finally in Gauteng; Pretoria Boys edged St. Stithians 29-27, Jeppe downed St. Johns 31-6 and KES defeated Noordheuwel by a single point, 23-22.
