St Edward’s 1st
XV v Lagunya RFC
A revived party having
enjoyed another hearty breakfast and a leisurely few hours in the centre of
Stellenbosch then set out, with a slight sense of apprehension for the township of Nyanga . As the coach pulled off the motorway
the reality of the life of many in this country became evident. As we pulled into the rugby club car
park it was noticeable how quiet the bus was, however the air of tension was
broken when Mr. Watson, Miss Maffey and Mrs Kenyon armed with a handful of mini footballs began
an impromptu game of football with a small group of tiny Township children.
As the group sat on
the coach with a growing sense of trepidation and apprehension everyone was fascinated
to see Tom Migliuolo pull out of his bag a large variety of gorgeous toddler
clothes that he had specially brought to distribute to the children of the
Township. Tom, large bag in hand disembarked and began to distribute his gifts to the large number of children who gathered around the coach.
It is important to
allow Tom the opportunity to express this in his own words:
Knowing that we were going to visit Lagunya
Township I went around to my neighbours and asked if they had any clothes that
there children had outgrown. Luckily there was a toddler in my neighbourhood
who had plenty of clothes to spare! I found the experience very moving,
particularly when I was able to see an 11month girl and her mother smiling with
delight with their new possessions.
Meanwhile, armed with handfuls of presents (clothes, mini hockey sticks and footballs) the girls enjoyed the pre-match period engaging with the numerous children who crowded around them eager to either receive a gift of some sort or just to play.
Having refocused the squad led by their captain George Trevaskis returned to the pitch seemingly well prepared for the challenge ahead.
Match report by; Tom Hage and Martin
Whittimore
With two wins out of two St Edward’s arrived at
the Township of Nyanga expecting a different type of
game to anything they had previously experienced. From the kick off St Edward’s
dominated the early breakdowns with Mike Karpathios particularly prominent After
3 minutes George Knowles taking a well timed inside pass burst through to cross
the line beneath the posts, unfortunately he was unable to control his feet on
the wet ground, as a consequence he stumbled and injured his shoulder in the
act of scoring.
The team followed up this initial success with well worked tries from: Martin Whittimore, George Trevaskis and Tom Hage. The Township side unbowed by this period of pressure kept themselves in the game with a series of effective counter attacks from turnovers created in part by pressure but also by a lack of discipline on the part of St Edward’s who far too frequently lost their structure and control. Having conceded two tries St Edward’s began to re-discover their control and cohesion allowing them to create a number of openings.
Towards the end of second half St Edward’s George Trevaskis and Tom Migliuolo crossed for tries from close range to finish the game, with a degree of comfort. Even more satisfying considering 25 St Edward’s players actually took the field.
Result: Lagunya RFC 12 – St Edward’s 53
At the conclusion of
the game the team adjourned to the club house for the post match festivities. Following
a welcome by the club stalwart Mr Louis Mzomba, the head teacher of a primary school
in the township of Langa and presentations by Mr Watson, Dan Lewis entertained
our host with a superb guitar solo. Not to be outdone our hosts responded with
2 songs. Although the words were a mystery the actions and singing were classic
dynamic, harmonic traditional club songs. Having said our final goodbyes we
left enriched and humbled by the quality of a once in a lifetime experience.
On returning to
Stellenbosh the boys decamped to a local sports bar for extremely large burgers
and the sight on numerous flat screen TV's of Ernie Els winning the Open and even more significantly Bradley
Wiggins & Mark Cavendish receiving their just rewards on the Champs Elysees
in the worlds greatest endurance event.
In contrast the female
contingent enjoyed an exclusive “Ladies Night” in one of Stellenbosch’s more
exclusive restaurants.
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