The Boschpick Newcastle Highlanders third and second teams came out winners last weekend.

Unfortunately, the first team lost 23-34 against Witbank after trailing 8-17 at half-time.

Early promise fades

“Vedgy (11) caught a Witbank player (15) napping. When he was shadowing the ball in-goal and rolling it out, Vedgy pounced and scored under his nose as early as the fifth minute of the game,” said Highlanders coach André Swanepoel, commenting on the match.

“It looked like the Newcastle Highlanders would have an easy afternoon, but then handling error after handling error crept in, and every backline move was marked by someone knocking the ball on,” continued a disappointed Swanepoel.

“The Newcastle Highlanders, with all the pace in the world, for some reason chose to run into a Witbank player instead of utilising their superior pace to beat players on the outside.”

Swanepoel went on to commend the Witbank players, making special mention of Gerhard Haasbroek (6). “They won ball after ball, penalty after penalty, once the Newcastle players ran into them.

“The Newcastle Highlanders will regret the home loss, as it might catch up with them at the end,” said Swanepoel, adding that this is a game that the Highlanders should have won.

“Once again, Newcastle’s forwards out-scrummed Witbank, with the ever-present Buffalo (1), Daniel (2) and Kwanda (3) doing exceptionally well in the scrums.

They were well-supported by Henk (4) and Dillon (5) behind them. However, the backline hasn’t yet fired to their full capability this season.”

Swanepoel explained that the backline has ‘lots of pace’ and urges players to use it much better than they have so far in the league.

“Nipho (14) scored a brilliant try down the right touchline after the ball was moved wide and if they did this more often, it would have made a big difference in the game,” remarked Swanepoel.

“Siya (16) made an impact when he came on and Giraffe (8) played as steady as always.”

See more photos here: Newcastle Boschpick Highlanders Vs Witbank

Points for tries were as follows:

• Nipho (14) – 2;
• Vedgy (11) – 1;
• Banda (10) – 1 penalty;
• Pierre (23) – 1 conversion and 1 penalty.

The Newcastle Highlanders‘ second team beat Witbank’s second team 23-10 and the third team beat the Flying Eagles first team 45-19.

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