2 June 2026
St Charles College and St Stithians College delivered a thrill-a-thon on Old Orchards on Saturday, with the home side snatching victory with a last-minute try, converted by flyhalf Caleb Sharp, which took the score to 33-31.
It was another heart-in-mouth moment for supporters of the Pietermaritzburg school, who watched Sharp land a challenging conversion two weeks earlier to earn the Wild Dogs a 26-26 draw with Glenwood High.
Reflecting on the win, St Charles’ coach, Craig Dwyer, said: “For a lot of these boys, it was their last game on Old Orchards. It meant a lot to them.
“We knew we had to put in a 70-minute performance. We spoke about that at the preview session we had on Wednesday.
“St Stithians is a team that doesn’t go away, so we cut a clip from their last fixture, when they played Parktown Boys’ High. The score was 30-27 [to Parktown], and they went for a scrum instead of kicking for poles. It shows their mindset. They back themselves, and they want to play. Unfortunately, they couldn’t finish it on the day, but they’re a very well-coached side.”
An early attempt at catching the visitors unawares from a 22m drop-out backfired badly and resulted in a simple opening try of the match for St Stithians.
Only after 10 minutes did St Charles escape their half, and it took them until the 19th minute to open their account. From there, they built up a 26-12 lead before St Stithians turned the contest on its head by scoring 19 points without reply.
All credit to the Pietermaritzburg boys. After falling behind with only a couple of minutes to play, they responded with a ferocious assault, and were rewarded when tighthead prop Bonga Nkosi barrelled over for his second try of the contest (see feature photo), which proved to be the match-winner when Sharp added the conversion.
“Mr Clutch“, as the St Charles’ boys have dubbed him, made four out of five conversions, missing only his first attempt from the right touchline. While Nkosi crossed the whitewash twice for the Wild Dogs, further tries were scored by the wings, Raheem Wheatley and Mathew Ludick, and scrumhalf Agape Nyawo.
St Charles’ coach, Craig Dwyer, commented: “We need to learn to be more patient in the opposition’s red zones, and to keep chipping away and back the system.
“Sometimes, we are probably a little guilty of getting caught up in those punch-up battles. We probably could have spread the ball wide a little bit earlier.
Giving an example, he added: “There was an instance in the first half where we tied them up – I know we scored from it – but we had a four-man overlap on the outside. We had done well to suck them in, but we couldn’t capitalise.”
The hometown Saints won each of the four main games – 1st XV, u16A, u15A, and u14A – and recorded nine wins overall. The visiting Saints won two matches, and the 6th XV clash ended level at 17-17.
Results
1st: St Charles 33-31 St Stithians
2nd: St Charles 12-29 St Stithians
3rd: St Charles 28-7 St Stithians
4th: St Charles 26-7 St Stithians
5th: St Charles 48-0 St Stithians
6th: St Charles 17-17 St Stithians
16A: St Charles 40-17 St Stithians
16B: St Charles 10-20 St Stithians
16C: Maritzburg College u16E 24-14 St Stithians
15A: St Charles 19-3 St Stithians
15B: St Charles 26-17 St Stithians
14A: St Charles 17-5 St Stithians
14B: St Charles 28-12 St Stithians
14C: Maritzburg College u 14E 26-14 St Stithians
14D: Maritzburg College u 14F 50-3 St Stithians
HOCKEY
On the Beckett Astro, St Stithians claimed a 2-0 win in the meeting of the 1st XIs. They also won the u16A and u14A matches, but St Charles’s depth stood out as they claimed six wins to St Stithians’ four, with two contests ending in draws.
Results
1st: St Charles 0-2 St Stithians
2nd: St Charles 1-2 St Stithians
3rd: St Charles 2-1 St Stithians
4th: St Charles 1-0 St Stithians
16A: St Charles 1-3 St Stithians
16B: St Charles 2-2 St Stithians
16C: St Charles 2-1 St Stithians
16D: St Charles 1-0 St Stithians
16E: St Charles 3-1 St Stithians
14A: St Charles 0-6 St Stithians
14B: St Charles 1-1 St Stithians
14C: St Charles 1-0 St Stithians