Apologies for delay in update but this will be my 3^rd attempt! I hope this one gets over the Equator!

It’s hard to believe that we have packed so much in to the past 14 days. Together with 4 sets of matches against The Langa Township, Paarl Boys High, Bredasdorp and Daniel Pienaar College, we’ve made visits to, for example, Table Mountain, The Cape of Good Hope, a Crocodile Park, Big Bay [white sandy beach near Cape Town], Haut Bay and Seal Island [we were followed by a pod of dolphins on boat trip to Island!], Robben Island, The Cape Town Waterfront, the Langa Township and Newlands Stadium to watch the Stormers play the Chiefs in the Super Rugby ¼ Final.

Apart from one very disappointing defeat for the 1^st XV yesterday at the hands of Daniel Pienaar there have been a number of promising performances in the matches played so far.

In the first set of games against the Langa Township the 1^st XV had a comfortable win 70-5 with tries from Olly Thomas [2], Henry McCloskey [2], Cole Beech, Daniel Walker, Ben Sherborne, Will Sanderson, Ben Gleeson, James Tayler, Seth Price and Matt Lampitt. Kai Hall [4] and James Tayler converted 5 of the 12 tries. The 2^ND XV secured a convincing 49-0 win with 9 tries scored by Will Naylor [2], Dan Akiat [2], Fergus Jackson, Jacob Bexley, James Falkiner, Connor Holland and Marcus Rodriguez. The scoring was completed by Will Naylor who also added a conversion.

We knew before leaving Heathrow that our opponents at Paarl were going to be tough; they are the top-ranked schoolboy side in SA this season! With this in mind the 2^nd XV’s magnificent win against a far bigger side was an outstanding performance. Their 18-5 victory was built on an impressive defensive effort and two well-taken tries by Seth Price and Cameron Wilkinson. Tom Rees completed the scoring with 2 penalties and a conversion. The 3^rd XV also gave a very good account of themselves but went down 24-10. Toby Matthews scored a try and Fergus Jackson kicked a penalty and conversion.

In the final game of the day, the 1^st XV came up against a very powerful Paarl side and found it very difficult to impose themselves on their opponents. A couple of soft tries were conceded in the first quarter from which we never recovered and the final score was 25-0. A positive reaction was needed after this below par performance for the middle game against Bredasdorp.

A reaction occurred and the 1^ST XV played with a lot more energy beating a useful Bredasdorp side 22-13. The score-line flattered our hosts and reflected some interesting interpretation of the laws by the ref!

The 2^nd XV were looking to maintain their unbeaten record and didn’t disappoint the ‘Blue Army’ in the stand with a well-fought 12-7 victory. Aaran James and Ben Gleeson scored our tries one of which was converted by Tom Rees.

The 3^rd XV match was very close at half time but a couple of setbacks early in the second half made a big difference to the balance of the game and our hosts ran out 40-7 winners.

In our most recent set of matches yesterday’s against Daniel Pienaar located 30 mins out of Port Elizabeth in Uitenhage the 2nds were looking to make it 4 from 4. They made a tremendous effort against tough opponents and with 3 minutes to go were just 2 points down with the score at 21-19. However, DP scored a late try to make the final score 26-19. Tries were scored by Ben Gleeson and Luke Griffin and Tom Rees kicked 3 penalties. Nevertheless this had been another fantastic performance by by the 2nds.

Unfortunately, the 1^st XV made a nervous start to their match making a number of basic errors at the restart and in defence and soon found themselves 21-0 down. They responded well just before the interval to get the score back to 26-12 at half time through tries by Cameron Wilkinson and Joe Hocking. However, the start of the second half was a repeat of the first half and a number of soft scores were conceded from which the side never recovered apart from a short spell right at the end of the game when replacement prop Chris Holman-Marshall crashed over after some good forward play. The score ended 66-20 with Kai Hall adding a penalty and conversion.

Tomorrow we leave Port Elizabeth for Johannesburg and the final leg of our Tour. We have just returned from a lovely local Italian restaurant where we had dinner to prepare for an early start tomorrow.

All the best,

Garde Ta Foy!

Chris Carter