Jeppe High made history on Monday night with a first-ever victory over Grey College at the North-South tournament in Pretoria.
In easily the standout result of this year’s North-South tournament, Jeppe held out for a 22-19 victory after trailing Grey College in the first half.
𝗠𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵
Risima Khosa van Jeppe pic.twitter.com/BkeqYBgg8a— NMI Toyota Noord Suid Rugbytoernooi (@NoordSuid) March 25, 2024
FORTI NIHIL DIFFICILIUS 🦓@jeppeboys 22 – 19 @GreyKollege pic.twitter.com/tEPMlEsSSo
— Hacjivah Dayimani (@Hacjivah) March 25, 2024
The win against one of South Africa’s best school teams was made even more impressive considering Jeppe had suffered a 45-19 loss to Paarl Boys High on the first day of the tournament on Thursday.
Grey College were quickest off the mark, taking an early lead when fullback Donelle Hendricks dotted down, before burly outside centre Ethan Adams extended the lead by bursting over the tryline after running an excellent switch line.
Flyhalf Matthew Coetzee kept Jeppe in the contest with three penalties and the game took a shift when No 8 Rimsa Khosa reached over for his side’s only try of the match.
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Jeppe continued to pile on the pressure and took a 16-14 lead into half-time.
In the second half, Grey College enjoyed another fast start and regained the lead when wing Ruben Cilliers scored in the corner.
However, Coetzee showed great composure with another two penalties, both from 40 metres out, as Jeppe took a 22-19 lead into the final 20 minutes.
From there, it was wave after wave of Grey College attack, but the Bloemfontein school was excellently repelled by a brave Jeppe defence, who held out to claim a win for the record books.
🗣️ “Jeppe High School for boys have done the near impossible!”
They hang on at the death to beat Grey College 22-19 in the NMI Toyota Noord Suid U19 Toernooi on a historic day of schoolboy rugby 👏
📲 Watch all the action live and on-demand on the @ss_schools app! pic.twitter.com/5UvGEess2M
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) March 25, 2024
Photo: @jeppeboys/Twitter