Hollywoodbets Wanderers Rugby Club dealt White River Rugby Club their second consecutive defeat in the Sibanye-Stillwater Super League cup division on Saturday.

The match, played at White River Rugby Club, was won 36-20 by the visitors.

It was an ill-tempered affair with two serious scuffles between the teams occurring in the second half. White River captain Barend Willers was issued a second yellow and automatic red card in the final minute of the game.

As he walked off the field, he showed dissent towards the assistant referee, Martin Lombard.

Willers faced a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday, February 25. He was found guilty on two charges.

According to the referee manager of the Pumas Referees Association, Oubaas Coetzer, he received a two-week suspension for foul play and a six-week suspension for referee abuse.

The sanctions will run concurrently.

Wanderers started off on fire and found themselves 17-0 up after 18 minutes with tries by Jaden Speelman, Testimony Dodo and Dylan Mostert, and a conversion from Kewan Gibb.

After 20 minutes of Wanderers domination, White River settled down and started putting together strong attacking phases. Kyle Leukes scored for the home team in the 28th minute, with Christiaan Gates missing the conversion.

Just before half-time, White River took advantage of some poor Wanderers defence to score. Gates slotted the conversion. The half-time score was 17-12 in favour of the visiting team.

Gates kicked an early second half penalty to narrow the difference to two points.

Wanderers hit back within two minutes. Speelman got his second try, off a maul as he did in the first half. Gibb’s conversion attempt failed.

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On 55 minutes the visitors scored again. Teboho Thantshi finished off an attack that started 15m from the try line and Gibb added the two extra points to take the score to 29-15.

With time running out for the home team, Dalton Thusana broke off a 5m scrum to score for White River. Gates missed the conversion attempt.

The last try went to the deserved victors, Wanderers. With White River down to 14 men, the ball went down the backline and Rea Mokotedi scored in the left corner. Gibb kicked the conversion for a final score of 36-20.

Wanderers were fitter, played at a faster pace and made use of their opportunities better than White River. The home team did play well for short periods, but lacked consistency.

White River lost to Naka Bulle the previous weekend. They are in third place in their four-team group. They will take on Springs Rugby Club in White River on Saturday.

The Lowveld’s other representative in the Sibanye-Stillwater Super League, Nelspruit Rugby Club, faced Brakpan away on Saturday. The East Rand club won 33-25.

In the first round, on February 14, Nelspruit defeated Sasol Secunda 30-13 at home.

Nelspruit are second on the log in their group on six points. Brakpan top the log with 10 points.

Nelspruit will travel to Hartbeespoort to play the Northam Wolves on Saturday.

The Sibanye-Stillwater League consists of amateur clubs from the Valke, Bulls, Limpopo, Leopards, Pumas and Lions rugby unions.

The 16 teams are divided into four groups of four teams each. The four teams that top their pools after the round-robin stage will qualify for the semifinals.

The league also has a shield division, but no Lowveld clubs are involved.