Grey College vs Paarl Boys High Grey College produced a scintillating second-half display to beat Paarl Boys’ High 43-24 in a Premier Interschools derby in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon. The home trailed Boys’ High 17-10 at the break following a bright start by the Paarl schoolboys.

However, Grey shifted gears after the break and produced a powerful forward performance to preserve their unbeaten record in 2019.

Grey, who beat Boys’ High 34-20 in Paarl in 2018 following three years of heartache in this clash, went behind early in the match when Kian Meadon slotted a penalty for the visitors. The home team would however take the lead in the 20th minute when fly-half FC du Plessis scored the first of his three tries following a great break by fullback Nabo Sokoyi.

Boys’ High fought back midway through the second half when they capitalised on Grey’s mistakes.

Xavier Farmer scored the first of his two tries in the 23rd minute after some great forward play by the Paarl side. Farmer then benefited from a botched Grey line-out to complete his brace six minutes before the break. But Grey would finish off the first half the stronger of the two teams.

Their malfunctioning line-out finally came good on the stroke of halftime when Tiaan Jonker dotted down after a clever training ground move close to the Boys’ High try-line.

However, the second half was one-way traffic, as Grey started to use their line-out and rolling maul as a weapon, while their backs started to punch a lot more holes in the Paarl school’s defensive line.

Du Plessis, whose support play was a hallmark of his hat trick, completed his brace seven minutes into the second half, before Andre-Hugo Venter, son of Springbok legend Andre Venter, went over the try-line following a powerful maul by the home side in the 50th minute.

Du Plessis scored his third try soon afterwards, before Grey were awarded a penalty try just after the hour mark. Substitute Marcell Muller scored Grey’s seventh try of the fixture when he pounced on a pin-point kick by scrumhalf Juan Dee Olivier, who also contributed three conversions for the home team.

Boys’ High’s only points of the second half came in the dying seconds of the clash when No 8 Gideon van Wyk scored a consolation try for the visitors.

Scorers:

GREY COLLEGE 43 (10) Tries: FC du Plessis 3, Tiaan Jonker, Andre-Hugo Venter, Penalty try, Marcell Muller. Cons: Juan Dee Olivier 3

PAARL BOYS HIGH 24 (17) Tries: Xavier Farmer 2, Gideon van Wyk Cons: Kian Meadon 3 Pens: Kian Meadon Report by John Goliath