Brakpan pips Northerns in Super League arm-wrestle

Benoni Northerns sent a clear message to the rest of the Valke Super League that they are no pushovers following their clash with Brakpan CCC on May 28 at Northerns grounds.

Despite their loss, coach Herman de Beer’s side gave Brakpan a run for their money and made them sweat for their 43-10 victory.

Although the scoreline may suggest the contest was one-way traffic, the Jason Bekker-led side put in the hard yards and their fluidity in attack and defence showed that with time they will be a force.

They disintegrated the green machine at the scrum but it was in the rucks where they were most clinical.

Bekker was especially in the mood. He went in hard in the tackles and displayed pure class in his execution. His speed, physicality and chemistry with Ernst Ehlers put their opponents on the back foot early on.

“We missed a few key players today so we were forced to explore our depth. As a squad, we are still trying to develop and create a consistency that has proven to be tough because our injury list keeps growing.

“We communicated well and if we continue to focus on improving our execution, we would stand a better chance on the scoreboard,” Bekker said.

Brakpan may have won the game, but they were far from clinical. The Northerns pack broke their lines and made sure they thwart their normal fluid play.

The game began with Northerns chasing hard and restricting play on the opposition’s half. The green machine was unfazed by the hosts’ early dominance as right-winger Mlondi Mnisi outran Jarrod Jeral to open the scoring with a try after four minutes.

Following Northerns scrum-half Jason Mitchell’s yellow card, Brakpan used their numerical advantage to good effect as Deon Vos darted in to make it 10-0.

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Moments later, Brakpan was reduced to 14 men when Franco Booysen was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and the momentum shifted towards Northerns.

Supersonic winger Lee Nzara made a nuisance of himself on the right wing as he ran hard at Brakpan’s defence. He was also brilliant in defence, utilising his pace to stop the visitors’ advances on the near side.

Their hard work was finally rewarded when Ehlers crossed the line to breathe life into the game. The conversion went wide.

Shortly before the break, Stephan de Klerk increased his team’s tally with a try from a counter-attack. After a Northerns attack was thwarted on the halfway line, Vos received and ducked a tackle but was brought down by Nzara who ran from the halfway line to make the tackle.

De Klerk was set up with a long pass from midfield to run in unchallenged. The score was 17-5 at half-time.

De Beer’s pep talk at the break saw Northerns roar back to life as Jeral scored on the left flank. Ehlers made light work of a Brakpan player before feeding the left-winger who broke free to score to make it 17-10.

The hosts were dominant in the scrum and won most of the duels in the rucks. Bekker and openside flanker Ehlers’ work rate were second to none as they fought for every ball and were present in both defence and attack.

The wheels started coming off deep into the second half as Brakpan scored four tries.

Despite their improved performance, Bekker stated that they have to start turning the dominance into points.

“We dominated in the scrums although our line-outs were a bit of a challenge. Also, our overall rounding off of plays or finishing needs a bit of work. We completed the hard yards but we failed to make it count on the scoreboard.”

Scorers

Northerns: Tries – Ernst Ehlers and Jarrod Jeral

Brakpan: Tries – Mlondi Mnisi, Deon Vos (2), Stephan de Klerk, Franco Booysen, Andrew van Wyk and Nico Erasmus
•Conversions – Andrew van Wyk (3), Hugo Classen

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