Vryheid Rugby Club suffers devastating defeat in Dewar Shield final
“The guys were very confident going into the match,” states Head Coach, Rich Verster. “I was very, very confident,” he adds. “I have watched a few of the Hillcrest games and felt strongly that we would beat them at all set phases and ruck situations but, unfortunately, we made too many mistakes…”
SPIRITS were high on Saturday morning as Vryheid Rugby Club players headed down to Durban to face Hillcrest in the final round for the Dewar Shield.
Both the first and second sides headed into their matches exuding confidence as they bravely went into battle against the tough Hillcrest teams.
The second team match saw tries being scored by Sibusiso Ntombela and Themba Phiri with one conversion and a successful penalty kick by Kobie Marè. Vryheid’s seconds were outplayed by the dominant Hillcrest squad, however and lost 15 – 26.
The first team hit the field brimming with motivation and immediately went on the attack against Hillcrest’s powerful first team side, dominating the opposition’s 22m for 80% of the first half but, despite their best efforts, were unable to penetrate the Hillcrest defence until a well-worked movement from a lineout between Lwazi Ndluli and Anton van der Walt saw Ndluli launching over the tryline to put Vryheid on the board.
Vryheid played 20 minutes of the first half with only 14 men as both Matthew Stride and Emile van Rooyen were sent off the field with yellow cards.
The second half saw captain, Tinus Scheepers, scoring another try for Vryheid, but Hillcrest responded with two more tries against the run of play, as Vryheid made 19 unforced errors.
In the closing minutes of the match, Chris van Rooyen scored a brilliant solo try but, in the end, it was not enough as Vryheid scored only three tries to Hillcrest’s four and Juan Booyens managed only one successful kick at the posts throughout the game.
“The guys were very confident going into the match,” states Head Coach, Rich Verster. “I was very, very confident,” he adds. “I have watched a few of the Hillcrest games and felt strongly that we would beat them at all set phases and ruck situations but, unfortunately, we made too many mistakes…”
At the final whistle, the honours went to Hillcrest, with a score of 32 to Vryheid’s 18. Man of the Match for Vryheid went to Tinus Scheepers for the forwards and Pienaar Breytenbach for the backs.
“Some you win and some you lose,” adds Verster. “We dropped ourselves when we needed to be at our best. But I’m not taking anything away from Hillcrest – they are a brilliant side… They deserved it on the day.”
Photos supplied by Henry Rutherford.
