Rugby lovers enjoy a feast of matches over the weekend
The victories by all three teams were hard fought-and won-over a strong, determined Hoedspruit team.
Last week Saturday was a rugby fest of note for the Barberton Rugby Club. Its first, second and third teams pitted their prowess against the Bosveld Pumbas from Hoedspruit. The visiting side were no match for the locals as attested to by the scores recorded on the day. Although Barberton emerged triumphant against all three sides, it was by no means a one-sided affair.
The visitors proved that they were rugby beasts in their own right and the encounter produced thrilling rugby for the watching spectators.
Martin Jooste, who coaches Barberton’s third team said, “We are extremely privileged to have a third team at the club, because they are a welcome addition to the first and second teams.
“We would also like to thank the Leeulopers whose experience showed during the match. It was a tough match indeed and it was nice seeing young and old enjoying themselves and learning from each other on the pitch.”
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In what Jooste rightly describes as a tightly-contested match, the local side thumped the visiting team by a 33-20 margin.
As the day progressed, the second and first teams took to the field to face off against their counterparts in more thrilling rugby action.
Michael Raath said, “We lost the previous match against Hoedspruit by two points and we just continued working harder to identify our weaknesses during the first encounter. It was tough initially, they picked up momentum and we played just as hard.
“There are three matches left this season before the knock-out rounds begin and we are in second place on the log. We still have a game in hand and we are working hard to be placed first on the log with the first team.”
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The hard work alluded to by Raath is reflected in the final score which was a convincing 95-0 win for the club’s second team.
Winning the final match of the day was no easy feat for the first team who beat their opposition by a 79-21 scoreline. Play was tough, the defence strong and sometimes seemingly unyielding.
Jaice Terblanche, the first team captain, summed up the match, “We expected it to be a tough game. At the moment they are the two top teams in the league. We slipped up a bit and lost by four points in the previous match, but we worked hard and focused on correcting our earlier mistakes.”
He added that, for the second and third teams to win so convincingly against a strong side puts extra pep in the first team’s step.
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“We were very clinical. We knew where their strong and weak points lay and used that knowledge to our advantage. Things worked well in our favour this time.”
“We need to remain focused though because we have two matches left-away to Belfast and at home to Orighstad and then the knock-out rounds.’
He concluded by saying that the team were lucky to lie at the top of table but that they needed to retain the momentum to end up at the top at the end of the season.
