WBJS U13 run riot to beat WPPS

On Saturday morning after a deluge of rain Wynberg Boys Junior School's premier rugby side strode onto Western Province Preparatory School's rugby field with high expectations after having beaten the same side at U12 level by a convincing margin of 30-plus points.

Proceedings started well for Wynberg from the kick off as they applied pressure on the hosts' tryline and it was this pressure that accounted for the poor clearance kick from WPPS that was collected by Mika Ekström playing at inside centre and he took the ball up and breached the defence to score near the posts. Fullback Donovan Opie converted the try and Wynberg were looking good for a repeat performance of last year's try-fest. 

Not long after the restart Wynberg bagged another try when left wing Chigo Iwegbuna collected the ball from a well-worked backline move after the forwards had secure quality possession from a ruck. Chigo had a lot of work to do before scoring the try and he did it well in cutting in and then stepping back out to evade two defenders and scoring in the corner. Donovan missed the conversion. 12-0 to Wynberg.

WPPS gathered some much-needed momentum from the restart and with the help of some questionable refereeing decisions put the Wynberg tryline under severe pressure. WPPS scored their solitary score of the match with a beautifully worked move that saw their right-wing run a great line to create the space in midfield which allowed him to cross under the posts. The conversion was good. 12-7 to Wynberg and that was the halftime score.

On numerous occasions in that first half Wynberg were thwarted by some silly handling errors at the base of the rucks, mauls and scrums as well as some very erratic refereeing.

The second half saw the visitors run riot as they opened the scoring early through captain and scrumhalf Labib Kannemeyer with a wonderful solo run that saw him cross out on the far right. Conversion was missed. 17-7 to Wynberg.

The forwards had worked hard all match long and it was just reward that they had their fair share of success. Brian Foster playing at flank ran hard and straight after being fed from the base of a ruck to score under the posts and take the lead to 24-7 with a successful conversion from Donovan.

A few minutes later Brian's fellow flanker Tandile Tinzi showed his pace as he also cut the hosts defence to ribbons and scored under the posts. Another successful conversion took Wynberg to 31-7.

At this stage coach Allen Gerber rang the changes to give some of his subs a run. This did nothing to slow the Wynberg momentum as another try was scored this time by outside centre Ayanda Mkhonto from good passing along the backline with Mika taking the ball up and timing the pass well for Ayanda to cross in the right corner. With Donovan having been substituted Mika took over the kicking duties and slotted the conversion from touchline. Wynberg now led 38-7.

With Labib having moved from scrumhalf to fullback as a result of the team changes he revelled in the space afforded him and scored another great try out wide on the left. Mika missed the conversion. Wynberg 43-7.

With some parents baying for a 50-pointer in the stands and only one minute left on the clock Brian Foster duly delivered to score wide on the left again. Mika slotted a difficult conversion to bring the slaughter to a merciful end with Wynberg having reached their half-century.

Final score 50-7.

The team's second half performance can be attributed to fewer errors and less aimless kicking which plagued them in the first half. Well done Wynberg on a well-deserved victory!