St John’s…………(26) 43 Eaglesvale………..(7) 7
ST JOHN’S College underlined their status as one of the top schools rugby teams at the ongoing Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival when they trounced Eaglesvale College, winning 43-7 in a one-sided encounter at Prince Edward School’s Jubilee Field yesterday.
BY KENNEDY NYAVAYA
The Rams, as St John’s rugby team is affectionately known, crossed the whitewash seven times in the match against Eaglesvale’s solitary converted try to complete a comfortable victory.
The Scott Gray-coached side were clearly superior in both attack and defence as they pressed forward in phases before shipping the ball out to their flawless line.
Despite crossing the whitewash first early in the match, Eaglesvale, who stunned Kyle College in their first match on Monday, never fully recovered after their opponents’ immediate response with an exceptional try.
St John’s maintained a firm grip on the contest and went into the break leading 26-7 with Eaglesvale seemingly running out of ideas.
Coming into the second half, the Cyprian Mandenge-coached side’s lax defence and lack of attention to overlaps got them punished before more tries started to pour in.
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Speaking to NewsDay soon after the game, Eaglesvale captain Ngonidzashe Dhlakama said his team failed to play their usual class of rugby.
“Maybe the players were over-confident since we scored first and they actually forgot the game was still on, so we just went off. We missed too many tackles and lost the ball easily and when we had it, we messed it up ourselves,” he said.
St John’s will be aiming to complete an unbeaten campaign at this year’s Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival when they take on Livingstone Kalobeng College from Botswana in their final match tomorrow.
Selected Results:
Bernard Mzeki 3-12 Vainona, Gateway 14-12 Marlborough, Heritage 17-15 Petra High, Kwekwe High 15-60 Hillcrest
College, Churchill 24-7 Capri Horns, Eaglesvale 7-43 St John’s College, Prince Edward 54-7 Livingstone Kalobeng College (Botswana)
