Curro Nelspruit had the privilege of three of their teams qualifying for the Mpumalanga Medium Schools rugby finals

*  They were the only team in Mpumalanga to manage this.

After a strong season, the u/14 Curro team were playing the hosts, Hoërskool Standerton. In the cold conditions, the match began with several unforced errors from both sides. Standerton were the first to take advantage of this and managed to run the ball down their back line to score in the corner.

The remainder of the half was back and forth play and ended with a crucial error from Curro in not managing to ground the ball over the line. The second half was again error-ridden, as the pressure of the final showed on the young teams.

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Thabiso Sekwane rounded off some positive phase play from Curro to put them on the scoreboard. A well-timed kick from the Standerton flyhalf brought the final score to 10-7 to the home side.

The sun came out as the u/15 teams took to the field in a repeat of last year’s final. Curro was determined to defend their title and had had an excellent season; scoring 304 points and only conceding 39 points in their six matches.

Hoërskool Oosterland from Secunda kicked off. Curro patiently moved the ball up the field; it was mature rugby that starved Oosterland of any possession and after several phases Christopher Sjöblom crossed the line under the poles. The confidence Oosterland showed before kick-off was cracking, with their players clearly rattled.

Curro continued putting phases together with excellent interplay between their backs and forwards and the Oosterland defence was left tackling shadows.

Flyhalf Christopher Sjöblom and eighth-man Danie Visser both scored to put the half-time score 19-3 to Curro.

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The second half saw Oosterland have more of the possession in a more evenly matched half. The final minute of the game saw the Oosterland winger score a consolidation try, not enough to stop Curro’s consecutive titles.

The next weekend sees the qualifying round of the Virsekerbeker, with the following fixtures:

• U/14: Curro Nelspruit vs Hoërskool Jan Viljoen (Home)
• U/15: Curro Nelspruit vs Curro Heuwelkruin (Polokwane)
• U/16: Curro Nelspruit vs Hoërskool Jan Viljoen (Home)
• U/16: Hoërskool Bergvlam vs Hoërskool Frans du Toit (Phalaborwa)

* Lowvelder incorrectly stated in its online version of this article, that Curro was the only school in Mpumalanga which managed to qualify for the Mpumalanga Medium Schools rugby finals. Curro was the only school to have three teams in the final. We regret the error and apologise for any inconvenience caused.