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November 6 - Hoërskool Monument relinquished their title at the @lantic Schools Sevens Champion of Champions tournament when Hoërskool Tygerberg was crowned the new champion in the national competition.
Hoërskool Tygerberg beat Excelsior 27-19 in an all-Cape Town Cup final after Monument was eliminated from Cup contention following a 17-14 defeat in their first pool match against Excelsior. With only one side from each of the four pools progressing to the semi-finals, Monnas then had to play off for the Plate, which they lost to Grey High from Port Elizabeth who won the final 33-22.
In a scintillating final, where the first half in particular was interspersed with good play and some wild passing from both sides that led to turnovers, Excelsior seemed out of it at 10-0 and Tygerberg clearly on top.
The lighter Excelsior then came back late in the ten-minute first half to take a 12-10 halftime break. But it was not to be as Tygerberg, with Jody Reynecke outstanding, wrapped up matters to stretch their lead to 27-12. Their ferocious tackling and the way they wrested the ball from opponents in maul situations proved too much for the lighter side who relied on stepping and skill but were no match for the hard running stemming from breakdown turnovers.
An Excelsior try two minutes before time preventd a lopsided scoreline that would not have been fair on the losers.
** As was the case in the Cup final later on the Plate final was a match of contrasts, with the bigger Monnas team running hard and straight while the lighter Grey side took the ball wide at every opportunity. The winners were up 21-0 before Monnas hit their straps and scored four good tries to take the lead at 22-21.
But then Grey again exploited Monnas’ mistakes and used their pace out wide to eventually win 33-22, scoring five tries to four with their Chris Collins the star of the match.
The defeat effectively relegated Monnas into sixth position in the 2010 competition
** The two Cup semi-finals produced disappointing results, with two big wins for Tygerberg over HTS Middelburg (31-0) and Excelsior over Brandwag (24-7).
In the play-off for third place, Waterkloof clinched the match against HTS Middelburg 15-12 with a last-gasp try.
** Brandwag were deserved 17-7 winners against Diamantveld who seemed disorganised under the pressure of their opponents and never looked like winning.
** The Shield was won by Sentraal after a close and entertaining match against Nelspruit. Sentraal used their opportunities and were deserved 28-21 winners. |
