WBHS wing Tonny Mahlangu on his way to score a try in the Menlo Park game with Fullback Shane Ball in support.
The Westville 1st Rugby Team participated in the 8th annual Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival held from the 1st to the 6th of April. The Kearsney Festival is acknowledged to be the premier schools rugby festival and attracts the top schools from around the country. The competition is fierce and the standard of rugby is of a very high standard. 2015 saw two new schools; Menlo Park and SACS, join ten other top schools including local powerhouses Kearsney, Glenwood and of course Westville.
Westville were fixtured against Menlo Park on day one and the game was a real cracker with the scoreline changing regularly. Westville led 17 – 15 at the halftime break but there was more drama to come. They increased their lead to 24-15 after wing Tonny Mahlangu scored in the first few minutes of the second half. Menlo converted to close the gap to six points. A good move by Menlo saw their fullback combining well with his two centres to go over under the poles and convert the try to leave Menlo 25-24 in front with just a few minutes remaining. A crucial penalty to Westville on fulltime saw Niel Van Rooyen hold his nerve and convert from 40m out, for Westville to win 27-25. Other day one scores for the local schools saw Glenwood beat Framesby 31 – 0 and Kearsney lost to Selbourne 48 – 7.
On day two, Westville played Dale College from the Eastern Cape. Dale had lost to SACS on day one and were keen to improve on their performance. Westville started well and led 7 – 3 at the break. In the second half, Dale came out firing and Westville battled to cope with their increased intensity. Dale finished the game worthy winners 20 -10. Other day two scores for local schools saw a plucky Kearsney go down 10 – 28 to Grey College and Glenwood lost to HTS Middleburg 11 – 22. The surprise result of the day was SACS victory over Affies 13 – 10.
Day three saw Westville up against the unbeaten SACS team, who were obviously buoyed by their victory over Affies. Again, Westville started well and raced into a comfortable 18 – 5 lead, but SACS struck twice with their dangerous backs just before and after the break to take the lead 19 – 18. Westville regained the lead midway through the second half with a second try from flanker Devon Muller and stayed in front to win an excellent game of rugby 34 – 26. Other day three scores for local schools saw Kearsney go down 26 – 45 to Dale College and Glenwood lost to Menlo Park Middleburg 23 – 19. The victory over SACS saw the Westville team produce the best results of the tournament for the local schools.