In a finish full of intensity and emotion, Marlow Agricultural scored a try after the hooter had sounded to snatch a 25-25 draw with Nico Malan in a blockbuster schools rugby showdown in Cradock on Saturday.
It could so easily have been victory to the home side because they had a chance to grab the bragging rights with the final conversion, but to their anguish, the ball slid wide of the uprights to leave it at a stalemate.
Marlow dominated the early stages of the match against their Humansdorp rivals, running in tries by Marcus September and Logan van Vuuren within nine minutes to shoot to a 14-0 lead.
From there on, however, Nico Malan clawed their way back into the match, and it was Marlow who had to fight back desperately at the close to avoid defeat.
Nico Malan hit back with a potent burst through the defence by flank Callie de Lange and a penalty from Leighton Lawrence to trail 14-8 at the break.
In the second half, there was never much in it, but the visitors looked to have seized the initiative when lock Ruben van Dijk and wing Reagan Stone bounded over for tries in the 64th and 67th minutes, turning a 20-15 deficit into a handy 25-20 lead.
Marlow refused to throw in the towel. From a penalty close to the Nico Malan line they set up a driving maul and eventually Sinqobile Siyengo powered his way over for the score-equaling try.
Then it was left to the conversion to win it for Marlow, but instead they had to settle for the draw.
In another titanic struggle, the Daniel Pienaar Tigers were forced to come from behind against Despatch to also force a draw.
Down 18-11 with time running out, the Tigers closed the gap to two points with their second try and then Corbelle Claasen stepped up to the tee to slot the conversion, making it 18-18, with the final whistle going shortly afterwards.
Earlier, Claasen had kicked a penalty and a conversion, while the Tigers’ tries came from Cariston Mapoe and Zinzile Mtotywa.
In a clash at Westering, Brandwag set up a 31-10 victory over the home side by dominating the first half to lead 26-0 at the break.
From the moment hooker Franku Fouche scored their first try in the ninth minute, Brandwag took control of the match and further scores by Hannes Klopper, Darren Gardener and Rezanio Petrus, who broke out from his own 22, put them in the driving seat.
Westering redeemed themselves in the second period with two tries scored by Masaneliswe Cakwebe, but eventually the gap was too big to close.
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