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Brakpan advance to semi-finals

Panne advance to the semis of the Predator League.

The warnings that were issued by Roodepoort Rugby Club prior to their encounter with Brakpan Rugby Club seem to have fallen on deaf ears, as the Panne routed to a 37-20 win on Saturday, August 3.

The first team Predator League match, at Bosman Stadium, was always going to be a tough and physical confrontation, particularly as both teams had defeated the Varsity Cup champions, Tukkies, in recent weeks.

When the match kicked off, the Panne had the early initiative and started in the same fashion as they did against Tuks, by again using the rolling maul to their advantage.

An early rolling maul gave the “Poorte” defence some trouble, but they managed to hold up an attempted try.

Soon after that, though, the Brakpan backline combined excellently and opened the scoring for the home team at 7-0, with a converted try.

Roodepoort added a penalty to make it 7-3.

Flanker Wickus van Heerden continued his fine run of try-scoring form by dotting down for Brakpan from the back of the maul, for an uncoverted try.

The score was now 12-3.

As the ball was kicked off from the try, the Panne’s left wing, Ulrich van Schalkwyk, used blistering pace to beat the away team’s defence and score a converted try, to take the score to 19-3.

Roodepoort added another three points soon after.

Namibian international Jacques Niewenhuizen added to Poorte’s first half misery by going under the poles to score another converted Brakpan try, to take the score to 26-6 at half-time.

When the second stanza commenced it was Poorte who started brightly and managed to find a gap in the Brakpan defence to score an unconverted try (26-13).

Brakpan were not, however, going to succumb to the attacking pressure imposed by their opponents and added another unconverted try (31-13).

Two more penalty kicks were slotted by Panne flyhalf Dewald Nel, and the home team were sitting pretty with the score at 37-13.

Poorte scored a converted consolation try from a quick break, but that was all that the away team could muster before the referee blew his whistle to end the match.

Brakpan Rugby Club chairman Harry Niewenhuizen said the result was a great one, as it sees Brakpan qualify for the Predator League semi-finals for the first time in their history.

“Given the fact that three of the top Varsity Cup sides (Tukkies, Pukke and Wits) did not make the semis, this is another great achievement for Brakpan and makes our season even better as we go,” he said.

“The team have lost only two games in the season and have demolished all their competition in a convincing manner, and the best is still to come.”

The team will play another big gun (The University of Johannesburg) in the semi-finals, and Niewenhuizen believes that the side are strong enough to go all the way to the final.

The venue for the semi-final match will be announced on Saturday, August 17.

The u-21 Brakpan team also handed out a 77-0 beating on the day.

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