Westville Boys’ High hosted Pretoria Boys’ High on Saturday the 16th of May. Fixtures were played across five Winter Sports codes: Rugby, Hockey, Golf, Squash and Tennis involving 44 sports teams. Westville squash team won 10 – 8, their 1st Tennis team won 5 – 4 and the 2nds lost 4 – 5; the golf teams halved 2 games apiece. In Hockey, Pretoria won the 1st and 2nd team games; Westville won the 14A game and drew the 16A’s. Overall, the local school won 7 of the 15 games played and drew 3 to take the honours. In Rugby, Westville were the stronger school winning all the A team games, the 2nds and the 1sts. In addition they won 16 of the 24 games to cap a fine weekend of results against a traditional powerhouse.
WESTVILLE 1St XV PUT ON POWERFUL PERFORMANCE AGAINST PRETORIA BOYS’ HIGH
The 1st team rugby match was played in front of a large crowd on Bowden’s Field and the spectators were treated to a very entertaining game of schoolboy rugby. The end result does not reflect the competitive nature of the game which was hardly one sided. With both sides intent on playing attacking rugby, the game swung from one of the field to the other and both teams enjoyed prolonged periods of attack in the opposition end zone. Pretoria had a large pack as does the home team, and the clashes upfront were not for the faint hearted. Both teams also possessed pace in the back three and both backlines’ defences were tested when the ball went wide.
The difference between the two teams came down to two factors: Westville were more accurate in taking their opportunities to put points on the board when they held territorial dominance; and the home team’s tenacious defence kept the visitors scoreless despite the visitors launching several multiphase attacks at Westville’s tryline. The home team’s defence remained steadfast throughout the game. To their credit, Pretoria Boys never gave up and their players gave a sterling performance lead by the captain, No 8 Reenen Buys-Du Plessis.
Westville scored the points through tries from centre Brogan Boulle (2), hooker Hendrik Prinsloo and fullback Shane Ball. Flyhalf, Niel Van Rooney added a conversion and a penalty to bring the final total to 25 – 0.
Westville’s demanding fixture schedule continues next week as they travel up to Gauteng to tackle KES. This will be the 1st XV’s 19th game with only one week’s respite.