White River seek gold after devastating loss

White River suffered a heart-breaking defeat to Sasol in a semi-final of the Mpumalanga Rugby Union Premier League last Saturday.

Playing away from home against the top-of-the-log-table team, the boys in red led from early in the match and held the lead until the 78th minute, when Sasol scored the match-winning try.

With 40 points on the scoreboard for White River, 34 for Sasol, and less than 120 seconds to the siren, Jeandre Kleynhans claimed and converted the try.

White River held a deserved 27-19 lead at half-time. After 60 minutes the score was 37-24 in favour of White River.

Sasol scored six tries to White River’s four. The final score was 41-40, with Sasol going through to the final.

The White River team were devastated. After a poor league phase of the competition, White River defeated Nelspruit to qualify for the semis. According to White River Rugby Club’s coach Bennie Pringle, the team should have finished Sasol off in the final 10 minutes.

“We went into defence mode and paid the price. We lost to ourselves in the last 10 minutes because of not being able to deliver the killer blow and trying to be clever in our own half,” said Pringle.

White River are preparing for the Gold Cup (South African club championships). The up-and-down Premier League campaign and the pain of the semi-final defeat will no doubt motivate them. They almost achieved a victory no one thought was possible. This band of brothers will be hungry and will face club’s with far bigger memberships, stronger clubs. But climbing mountains is a challenge White River players relish.

“The guys are playing a brand of rugby that, if we work on our fitness, we will definitely be competitive in the Gold Cup,” said Pringle.

White River will play at home against the Zimbabwe qualifying club in the Gold Cup on September 10.