Rugby Club’s season shows promise

VRYHEID Rugby Club have cemented the number one spot in their group for this year’s competition by beating Piet Retief in the side’s penultimate group match on Saturday afternoon.

Piet Retief, who had a surprisingly easy run against Pongola last weekend, attacked from the get-go and put together some useful phases before their flyhalf kicked a penalty in the fifth minute to give the home team the early lead. Vryheid’s patient defense was called into action after Piet Retief’s relentless attacks for 30 minutes non-stop on their try-line.

The boys in maroon could not stop the bollocking runs by Piet Retief’s huge forwards and had to concede a try after a drive off a line-out. Piet Retief did manage to put together some impressive attacking phases of play, but a try by Vryheid loose-forward, Ignis Potgieter, against the run of play snubbed their momentum. Francois Scheepers converted a difficult kick to start an onslaught that left Piet Retief stunned.

It opened up again for the visitors shortly thereafter with lock, Themba Phiri, a scholar at Scheepersnek School, scoring Vryheid’s second try of the afternoon after seven phases of play left a two man overlap. Scheepers again was on song with the long distance conversion, driving the nail deeper into the coffin.

The hosts tried their best to keep Vryheid from crossing the whitewash, but in the end the visitors scored two more well worked tries. Winger, Andre Bester showed off his amazing speed by leaving the opponents teary-eyed in his dust, watching as he scored his team’s third try. ‘Captain Courageous’, Pieter Oosthuizen, pressing for the bonus point try, had something to smile about after he caught the Piet Retief defenders napping.

He dotted down under the upright to secure the bonus point and win for Vryheid’s unanswered onslaught of “the black machines” line. Scheepers succeeded with a final penalty to seal a tough match against last year’s league winners. Final score 32 – 10.

Vryheid’s 2nd team also had a convincing win over Piet Retief’s 2nd team, outscoring them 38 points to 20, moving them into top spot in the 2nd division rankings.

A big thank you goes out to Eddy’s Butchery, for making an “emergency” trip to Piet Retief, after the club’s rugby jerseys were left behind.