Day 16

Close support, originally uploaded by simongman.

All the boys flooded into Nico Malan High School for the final fixtures of the tour. The U15XV were up against a well prepared side but were not put off by the task in hand. Watched by half the school from their magnificent stand the home team were ahead on the 8th minute with a blindside move from a clean catch off a maul that Kirkham failed to cover. Once again our boys were playing a catch-up game! The team created a number of good try scoring chances but unfortunately were not able to convert pressure into points. This pattern remained for the rest of the half with Nico Malan scoring a further two tries. After an inspirational team talk by Mr Wu and the introduction of Charles O’Flaherty returning from injury, the forwards stepped up a gear. With the team deep in Nico Malan’s territory the boys fought back and were rewarded with a fine try by Michael Gyi well supported by Charles O’Flaherty that was converted by Jamie Roper. The final score was 24-7.

The U16XV were clapped and cheered onto the pitch by all supporters from both sides in this their final game of the tour. Kirkham started the game with real purpose as they attacked the home side with some excellent multi phased attacks. The home side had to call upon their stand off to scramble the ball into touch on numerous occasions in the first ten minutes. Eventually Nico Malan broke away, but a fine cover tackle from Lewis Russell saved a try. The home side continued to put pressure on Kirkham and five minutes from half time they scored, even though it seemed that a fine tackle from a Kirkham player had knocked the ball forward. The second half started with Kirkham under extreme pressure, time after time Kirkham made last gasp tackles which prevented Nico Malan scoring. Excellent defence again from Lewis Russell well supported by young centre Chis Travis and outstanding number eight Richard de Carpentier were the reason for Nico Malan’s failure to score. During this period fly half Ashley Wilding kicked well and allowed Kirkham to enter their opponents half. Gradually Kirkham’s pack with Phil Berry and Kieron Brookes becoming more and more dominant and drove Nico Malan backwards. After a well worked penalty move Kieron crashed over for a fine try in the corner, unfortunately the conversion was missed. The final minutes of the game was evenly contested with both sides having opportunities to score. Disappointingly with two minutes left Nico Malan managed a drop goal from distance to win the match 8-5.

It is now 01.15 am and I have finally got the photos from today's matches online, I have yet to pack for tomorrow's early departure of 07.00 am to the game reserve. This might be my last blog until I get back to the UK (Heathrow?) as I doubt that I will be able to post anything from the lodge. I am looking forwards to capturing some big game. Keep looking for my next post.

Click on the images for the South Africa set of photos.