Dylan Greyling scored the try of the day as the Helpmekaar Kollege Barbarians made an exceptional debut at the St Dunstan’s Easter Sports Festival, running in seven tries to beat Zimbabwe’s St George’s Dragons 43-19 on April 17.

Deep in the second half and with the Barbarians comfortably leading 33-14, Greyling received a pass from the right just outside the Dragons’ 22m line.

The fly-half ran across to the left, side-stepped one marker, bulldozed another before going this way and that way, leaving his only barrier to the whitewash flat on his behind to run in unchallenged.

The game was pretty much settled at that point but it lived up its billing as the one to watch before the programme started. While the large frames of the Zimbabweans had many fans on tenterhooks waiting to see how they would fare in the contest, the Barbarians were the least concerned.

They dominated the early exchanges with quick attacks that saw them camp inside the Dragons’ 22m line for long periods. But the Zimbabweans turned it around with a counter as their right winger ran from his own half only to be stopped inches from the tryline by some sublime defending from Helpmekaar.

That began St George’s dominance. After sustained periods of pressure deep in the Helpmekaar 22, Lock Nyasha Jindu turned that dominance into points with a five-pointer, which Shaun Chinomwe converted.

The Barbarians coach pleaded for patience from his charges. They wrestled back control afterwards and their driving maul, at least at that point of the game, became their defining and deciding aspect of the match.

After being awarded a free-kick into the Dragons’ half, they kicked for touch. From the ensuing throw in, a maul was formed and thanks to some jostling from the forwards, the maul broke free and raced towards the try-line, allowing eighth-man Kevin Ockles to break free for a touch-down.

Their second try was a replica of the first as a maul was wheeled forward and hooker Peet Viljoen sneaked in from behind to increase the deficit.

Viljoen’s try only increased their hunger. They continued to surge forward with precision and this time, Dillan van der Merwe got lucky when a Dragons defender mis-timed his tackle, allowing the fullback to touch-down just before the hooter as they went into the break leading 19-7.

The second-half was equally eventful as the Barbarians increased their tally through Matthew le Roux and Christo van der Merwe to increase their lead to 33-7.

Tyler Shinyadza pulled one back for the Dragons but Greyling produced his magic moment with what ranks as the try of the tournament.

Zandre Prinsloo added Helpmekaar’s seventh try two minutes from time but Ethan Zhou still had time to score St George’s third maximum as the Zimbabwean outfit died fighting.

In the end, the competition was too much and the Barbarians announced their arrival with dominant victory.

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