Elande white wash Wanderers Rugby Club
Alberton Rugby Club played hosts to the once Gold Cup contenders (national club rugby championship), Wanderers Rugby Club, recently.
It was a fruitful day for the Elande as they walked away with victories over all five visiting sides.
This would be the first time in more than a decade that the Elande achieved such a feat in the Castle Pirates Grand challenge, which is the premier club competition in the Golden Lions Rugby Union.
The referee of the first side could be quoted in saying that it was a “real real contest of the game” and “it was a great display of rugby”.
Admittedly the game was intense and unappealing at times, but the eventual grunt of the Elande secured themselves a 37m penalty in the form of Juan Westenberg shepherding the teams to the change room for their half time oranges with the score line of 3-0 in favour of the hosts.
In an unfamiliar sight, the Elande scrum was dominated for the first time in a very long time. This is a testament to the shear guts that the local heroes showed as their opposition was man for man at least 15kg bigger, baring three players in the squad.
The intensity of the fixture prevented any one team from building momentum. The stroke of genius happened when coach Jaco Botha moved caretaker fly Half Bennie “Vlakvark” Botes back to inside centre sometime in the second half.
The change took a lot of distribution responsibilities off of him allowing him to go on his trademark warthog like runs. In the final movement of the game, the vlakvark went on a trot and in an identical situation to that of the Louis Odendaal derby 2m before the line and keeping three defenders busy, off loaded to winger Justin Liebenberg with a pass out the back door.
Liebenberg in his last touch for the Elande went over to secure the game as he did in 2022 against the same opposition.
The results are pleasing and something the community can be proud of. A member of the community wished the Elande well on the Alberton Rugby club Facebook stating that with so much negativity in the world currently, it would be great if our local boys could pull off a win to positively stimulate the community.
And to quote Rory Lategan of Alberton Rugby Club, “Ladies and gentlemen and that is exactly what we aim for is to play and represent our community. Our next home match is against Varsity Giant UJ on May 27, and I would like to urge you to come down to see your son’s dads, uncles, teachers and friends play for our community.”
Results:
U19A 35-0 Alberton win
U21A 33-26 Alberton win
Thirds A 28-0 Alberton win
Seconds A 50-7 Alberton win
Firsts A 10-0 Alberton win
