Poor discipline costs Brakpan
Local side lost to Vereeniging over the weekend.
Poor discipline has been added to the issues CCC Brakpan Rugby Club has been having among their forwards this season.
Brakpan finished their match against Vereeniging with 14 men and lost 38-12 on Saturday.
Loose forward Juan Steenkamp was sent off as Brakpan’s first team battled in a match they were looking to win to try to secure a third spot on the log.
“We’ve had three red cards in recent matches,” said chairperson Harry Nieuwenhuis.
“It’s a bit difficult. But we didn’t do well in the scrums and the lineouts were the same story.”
Brakpan has qualified for the semi-final, which will most likely be against log leaders Springs.
The team from Bosman Stadium might have been able to avoid the table-topping side if they had won against Vereeniging but this was not to be.
They will play their last league match against Benoni at home on Saturday.
“We should win and then it’s semi-final time against Springs,” said Nieuwenhuis.
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The big issue for Brakpan will be the one that they have faced for much of the season, which is their pack of forwards.
While their backline can be almost unstoppable when they get going, their forwards have not always been able to dominate proceedings.
Without good go-forward ball from their pack, they have not always been able to unleash their skilful backs on their opponents.
On the bright side for the club, their U21 side remained unbeaten when they beat Vereeniging 52-5. With Benoni not having a U21 side the youngsters will have a bye this weekend.
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“We’ll see what we can do to patch up the pack of forwards with the U21s (against Benoni). But it’s difficult. We have to make six changes to the pack of forwards due to injuries and suspensions.
“It’s not good news for the club and we have to get everything sorted out before the semi-finals. We have a lot of work before we face Springs so hopefully, we can get some of it done against Benoni,” said the chairperson.
“The U21s will face Vereeniging in their semi-finals.”
The second team lost 43-10. This means that they did not qualify for the play-offs. Their match against Benoni will be their last game of the season.
The U21 side is a cause for real excitement at Brakpan.
“They are a wonderful team this year. We are very proud of them. Many of them will be among the seniors next year.
“They give us a lot of comfort for next season. And some of the guys playing in the first team are between the ages of 23 and 25 so we should have a very strong side next year,” said Nieuwenhuis.
