Chronicle Editor
Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
PETRA High School pulled a shocker yesterday with a 14-12 win over Watershed College, while Churchill were a huge disappointment following a 7-21 defeat at the hands of Falcon College on day two of the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival at Prince Edward.
Most games went according to the form book but there was also a rather unfortunate incident that forced Peterhouse to withdraw from their game against hosts Prince Edward in what was supposed to be the penultimate game of the day.
The Kings pulled out after one of their parents was involved in a road accident.
According to Prince Edward School, the Kings “were not able to make it for their fixture after one of their parents was involved in a car accident on their way for the festival.”
However, it was business as usual for the other teams, St George’s College underlining their dominance over Midlands Christian College with a 48-12 thumping of the Gweru-based School while Kyle College beat Allan Wilson 43-0.Falcon battled for a hard-fought 21-7 win over Churchill.
Eaglesvale started the festival with a 5-27 loss at the hands of St John’s College as they restricted the Rams to one try in the second half, adding one unconverted effort to their name.
Going into the break, MCC were trailing 12-17 but they were completely shut out in the second half where they were starved of the ball and were not good going into contact, the Saints taking advantage of their superiority.
All the Saints did was to make sure they kept a watertight defence and capitalised on MCC’s mistakes and this was worsened after MCC lost their captain Tamuka Pamire to a shoulder injury and he had to be stretchered off the field.
“We let ourselves down because we made too many errors and they capitalised on our weaknesses. We were meant to play to a set pattern and structure but we did not stick to it,” said MCC coach, Marvin Chirume.
“It being our first game I am sure we noted our mistakes and that is what we have to work on tomorrow (today).
“The situation was aggravated by the fact that we lost our captain to an injury and he had to be referred to the hospital and that just demoralised the boys as well but I am sure we will be a better team in our next game.”
It was a different case for Kyle College, under the guidance of Sables scrummy Charles Jiji who has been in charge of the Masvingo school since last year, as they got their campaign off to winning start over Victor Pekani’s Allan Wilson.
“It was good that we won but outside the score I do not feel that we executed our game plan as well as we were supposed to but the boys, at least, managed to dominate at contact and in set-plays,” said Jiji.
“There are a number of new players in the team, players that we did not travel with on our pre-season tour abroad.”
Vale coach, Cyprian “Supa” Mandenge, feels his side did not turn up for the party.
“We just did not play and I feel that we could have done better. We lost much of the ball at contact situation and we did not really get to play our game,” said Mandenge.
Day Two Results
Jubilee Field: Watershed 18, Marlborough 8; Hillcrest 12, Petra 14; Lomagundi 45, Ellis Robbins 0; Kyle College 43, Allan Wilson 0; St George’s College 48, MCC 12; Eaglesvale 5, St Johns College 27; PE Tigers 28, PE II 12; Churchill 7, Falcon 21.
Avenues Field: LKC 27, Mutare Boys 8; Gifford 41, Heritage 12; Benard Mzeki 18, Kutama 3; Plumtree 38, Gateway 5; Milton 6, Vainona 25; Marondera 24, Victoria High 8; Murehwa High 0, St Johns High 54; Mazowe 21, St Johns Chikwaka 3.
Chapel Field Under-16: Heritage 3, Lomagundi 36; Kyle College 14, MCC 38; Prince Edward 28, Petra 0; Watershed 43, St Georges College 7; St Ignatius 5, Goromonzi 8 (first team).
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