In a highly anticipated annual rugby fixture, Union High School, Graaff-Reinet’s 1st XV clashed with Stirling this past Saturday, 20 April, in East London.
1st XV vs Stirling:
The match kicked off with Union’s 1st XV showing immense vigour and determination, eager to secure a victory. However, a costly mistake early on allowed Stirling to pounce, securing their first try of the game and putting Union on the backfoot.
Despite the setback, Union rallied and managed to convert a penalty kick, narrowing Stirling’s lead to 3-7. ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ฌ๐๐จ ๐ข๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐ -๐๐ฃ๐-๐๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ, ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐ค๐จ๐จ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ง๐ค๐ก. A try by Shaakir Kazi injected a burst of energy into the Union side, bringing the score to 10-12, still in favour of Stirling.
As the first half drew to a close, Stirling capitalized on an opportunity, scoring another try just before halftime, extending their lead to 10-17.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ’๐ด ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ.
The game continued to be a seesaw battle, with both teams fighting tooth and nail for dominance. Another try by Stirling, due to a lapse in concentration, pushed the score to 17-29. Yet, Union’s spirit remained unbroken, as evidenced by Peter Michaels’ second individual try, bringing the final score to 22-29 in favour of Stirling.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐:
โข 2nd XV lost 40-3
โข u/16 lost 20-0
โข u/15 lost 62-5
โข u/14 lost 68-0
(๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ’๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ’๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด.)