Brakpan clinch play-off spot
Win against Boksburg leaves Brakpan tied with NWU and sitting at third place on the log.
CCC Brakpan Rugby Club has pretty much secured a spot in the semi-finals of the Valke Peregrine League.
This is after they avenged their earlier season loss to Boksburg by winning 51-33 at the Bosman Stadium on Saturday.
Brakpan was too good for their opponents as their forwards dominated up front to create the perfect platform to unleash their incredible backline, especially in the second half.
PJ Beukes, Stephan de Klerk (twice), Deon Vos (twice), David Woolls and Mlondi Mnisi all scored tries as they managed to tear their opponents apart.
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Andrew van Wyk kicked over four conversions while Beukes got one. The pair also got a penalty each to cap off a great day for Brakpan.
They now lie at third on the log, tied with North-West University (NWU).
With two matches left before the playoffs the focus will now be on finishing above NWU to try and secure what would technically be an easier semi-final.
“This weekend’s game (away) will determine who’s going to finish third or fourth, which will tell us who is going to play who,” said chairperson Harry Nieuwenhuis.
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Springs are the log leaders, while Vereeniging is second. Brakpan and NWU are tied at third.
Brakpan will be away to Vereeniging this weekend and then face Benoni at home in the last league match before the semi-finals. Nieuwenhuis is not concerned about who his team faces in the playoffs.
“If we play Springs it’s fine and if we play Vereeniging it’s fine. It doesn’t matter,” he said.
The chairperson is happy with the way his club turned its season around after starting the season poorly.
“The last three or four matches have been good. We’ve won them all except for Springs who we lost to,” he said.
“We can make it to the final.”
There was a time this year when one would have thought that Brakpan had no chance of reaching the playoffs but somehow they have managed to achieve this with two matches to spare.
No matter what happens for the rest of this season they will know that they have achieved a great feat to turn their campaign around.
Brakpan will also take heart from knowing that their U21 side has been strong with a number of them being on the bench for the first team.
The younger team showed no mercy on Boksburg as they demolished them 90-0.
“About 80% of them will move into the senior ranks next year,” said Nieuwenhuis.
“So we have a great platform to go really big, which is wonderful at this stage.”
Nieuwenhuis is proud of his U21 side. They are likely to have a few of them selected for the Valke U21 team which will play in the Currie Cup once the club season is complete.
“It’s been a while since we had some of our youngsters playing provincial rugby. That’s a boost for the club because these guys can be around for the next 10 years and get a lot better as well,” said the chairperson.
The second team also had a good outing as they beat Boksburg 35-14.
