By Theo Garrun

Day 1:

Paarl Boys’ High, as was to be expected, were the most impressive side on view on the first day of the Standard Bank King Edward Easter Festival on Thursday, despite being given a first half scare by Selborne College.

Selborne led 5-3 at half time, and they were good value for it. Booishaai had a tough encounter at the North-South Festival on Tuesday night and the short turnaround left them looking flat to start with. It was a different story after the break, however, especially once Paarl had made a raft of substitutions, and they scored seven unanswered tries in the second half to run out 55-5 winners.

The King Edward Reds were also very impressive in their first outing. They bounced back from their loss to Paarl Gim at the North-South on Monday, to produce some sparkling rugby in beating Hudson Park 57-12. The East London boys were outgunned but they never gave up, and they scored two good tries of their own in the closing stages of the game.

KES meet Paarl in the main game of the day on Saturday and, given Paarl’s recent tendency to find themselves behind early on, and KES’ great second half performance against Hudson Park, it could be an interesting encounter.

The early games on day one were rather one-sided, Nico Malan beat St David’s Marist 46-11 and Eldoraigne overcame Parktown 38-0. The Northwood vs Ben Vorster clash was more even. The Tzaneen school ran in in two early tries, but Northwood came back strongly to draw even at half time and then took control in the second half to win 30-15.

The final game of the day was an exciting affair between Queen’s College and Diamantveld. Queens drew clear early on before Diamantveld made a spirited comeback. However, Queens scored two late tries to make the game safe.

Day 2:

The hosts, King Edward, came within a hair’s breadth of toppling the number two side in the land, Paarl Boys’ High, in a pulsating concluding game to the second day of the Standard Bank King Edward Easter Festival on Saturday.

The final score was 10-8 to Paarl, after the Reds had led 8-3 at half-time, and the home side certainly had a number of chances to secure the win. Some wayward goal-kicking cost them, and it took a sensational cover-defence tackle to stop their winger from going over in the corner when it looked like he was in.

Paarl’s try came from a rolling maul after they were repulsed by the KES defence time, after time. That put Paarl ahead, but KES kept coming at them, forcing errors and cutting them down with withering tackles. In the end it was a cracker, that could have gone either way, another one of those festival games that’s going to be talked about in years to come.

The last four games of the day were all exciting, high-quality affairs, worthy of the big crowd that turned up for the Saturday – the biggest in years, according to the festival organisers.

Northwood beat Hudson Park 36-20. The East London boys just refused to go away and every time it looked like Northwood was going to surge ahead, they came back into the game. They were full of tricky running and brave defence, but Northwood had too many guns for them and they managed repulse them and score two late tries to draw clear.

Queens College produced what was arguably the best performance of the day. Playing in front of their legendary old boys, who turned up in numbers and sung their hearts out, they weathered an early storm by a plucky Ben Vorster side and they took control in the end to run out 32-10 winners.

The main curtain-raiser was between Selborne and Parktown, and it was a cracker. Selborne bounced back from their heavy defeat at the hands of Paarl on Thursday and played controlled, power rugby. Parktown were clearly outweighed up front, but they responded with guts and determination and Selborne had to fight all the way for their 23-17 win.

Day 3:

The King Edward Reds ended the Standard Bank King Edward Easter Rugby Festival off on a high note, when they beat Selborne College 20-0 in the final game of the long weekend, on Monday. After running the mighty Paarl Boys’ High extremely close on Saturday, and comfortably beating Hudson Park on the opening day, they can feel well satisfied with their work and they look set for a good season.

Only two teams, Paarl Boys’ High and Queens College, won all three of their games. Booishaai ran in a few early tries against Northwood on Monday, and a big score looked on the cards, but Northwood were dogged in their defence and they scored a try of their own to keep the score down to 29-7 in the end. In their first game, Paarl beat Selborne 55-5.

Queens, as always, played exciting rugby and they entertained their customary big contingent of old boy supporters with three good wins – 40-21 over Diamantveld, 32-10 vs Ben Vorster and, on Monday, 31-21 over Kempton Park, in a contest where they showed that they can bring the physicality too, when its needed.

In other action on the third day Nico Malan and Ben Vorster produced an entertaining contest. Ben Vorster drew first blood and where still in the game at half time the boys from Humansdorp took control after the break and drew well clear in the end to win 24-5.

The St David’s vs Hudson Park clash was an entertaining affair. St David’s were in the game well into the second half, but when the Eastern Cape boys got their backs going, they found it hard to stop them and they went down 31-19.

Parktown never won a game at the festival, but they showed that they are going to cause a few of their local rivals some headaches as the season progresses. Their withering tackles and all out attack, with whatever possession they could get their hands on, won them many friends in the crowd. They looked set for a first win on Monday, against Diamatveld, but were denied by a late try, losing 19-17.

Durbanville showed at the festival why they are counted among the top sides in the Western Cape this year. They romped home 61-19 against Kempton Park on Saturday, and on Monday in difficult conditions, they showed they can grind out a win: 22-17 over Eldoraigne.

Here are the rugby results: