Panne left wondering after Wanderers’ win

It’s a wrap for Brakpan Rugby Club’s first team and their involvement in the race for qualification to the 2015 Cell C Community Cup.

The 2013 Community Cup bronze medallists were defeated 45-39 by Wanderers, at Wits University, on Saturday, and the nightmare season by Brakpan’s exceptionally high standards officially came to a conclusion.

Wanderers will now take on Sasol (Mpumulanga) at Loftus Versfeld, in Pretoria, on Saturday, September 20, for a spot in community rugby’s elite tournament, while Brakpan will be left to lament on what could have been.

Despite scoring seven tries (35 of their total 39 points), it was their display with the boot that let them down, with only two of the seven tries converted.

An abundance of mistakes also let down stand-in skipper Jacques Nieuwenhuis’s men, as Wanderers pounced on these errors.

The young PJ Beukes (normally a 90 per cent accuracy kicker) will want to quickly put to bed the memories of his kicking performance, after he missed all his attempts at the poles on Saturday.

Injuries to Brakpan’s props also meant that they were forced to play the final 20 minutes of the second half with flankers in the front row.

The strength in depth that the “Panne” had in their great showing of 2013 was clearly missing this season.

It could also have been a different story for the men from Bosman Stadium had their always influential captain, Francois “Bones” Robbertse, been available to play.

Commenting on the result, Brakpan Rugby Club’s chairman, Harry Nieuwenhuis, said: “It is back to the drawing board for us.

“Management will take a two-week break, just to recharge the batteries, and then we will start with the planning process to get back into the Community Cup.

“The fact is, we have six months to qualify for 2016 and we seriously need to rethink all of our processes to ensure that the mistakes of 2014 will not be repeated going forward.

“It is great to be on top, but staying there is a totally different kettle of fish and something we all at the club have to commit to.

“We want to thank all our supporters, sponsors, players and management for their commitment in 2014 and we understand how big a challenge it will be in the future, but challenges have always been something that Brakpan Rugby Club are not afraid off.

“We look forward to the road ahead.”