Sweet victory for Sentraal
"We now look forward to the semi-finals against Piet Retief. If we can maintain our discipline, attend practices and not be refs on the field, we will win. Let's do it, guys."
Vryheid Rugby Club faced Dundee’s Sentraal on Saturday, in what sister publication, the Northern Natal Courier described as a ‘ding dong battle’.
An early try by Sentraal’s captain, Danie Vermaak on home turf, opened the scoring 18 minutes into the game, and Vryheid responded with a converted try by Tommy Harmse 10 minutes later.
Shortly before the half-time whistle blew, another two quick tries were scored by both sides.
The first saw Sentraal fly-half, Eugene Corbitt cross the whitewash, followed by another Harmse try for Vryheid, to give the visiting men in maroon the advantage going into the half-time break, ahead by 14 points to 10.
Vryheid started the second half strong. However, successive tries by Sentraal’s Gary Simpson and Xander Kriel smashed the Vryheid defence throughout the second half, and took the score to 22 – 14 to Sentraal, with time steadily running out. “A rally by [Vryheid] captain, Lwazi Mdluli, for his players to tighten their discipline and stop ‘chirping’ the ref, appeared to do the trick,” wrote Terry Worley, of the Northern Natal Courier. “Vryheid scored in the corner and at 22 – 19, the game was heading for a grandstand finish…”
While Vryheid certainly did not throw in the towel during the final stages of the match, the new-look Dundee side pushed on, heading confidently towards the final whistle with impressive performances by Xander Kriel, Tshapelo Nkoto, Eugene Corbitt and Charles Dube. Collectively, they secured the win for the hosts, with the final score 34 – 19 to Sentraal. Men of the Match for Sentraal were Xander Kriel (backs) and Gary Simpson (forwards), while Devin Aspden (backs) and Themba Phiri (forwards) took the same honours for Vryheid Rugby Club.
“Vryheid captain, Lwazi Mdluli spoke passionately after the match, when players from both teams gathered for the traditional thanksgiving prayer after the game,” added Worley. “He made an appeal for all Vryheid players to attend practices, in the run-up to the semi-final against Piet Retief, and called for all players to exercise discipline on and off the field.”
Head Coach of Vryheid Rugby Club, Andre Ellis said that, like Sentraal, the team this year had experienced ‘many ups and downs, but despite this had kept going’.
“We now look forward to the semi-finals against Piet Retief. If we can maintain our discipline, attend practices and not be refs on the field, we will win. Let’s do it, guys.”
Johann Coetzee, chairman of Sentraal Rugby, commented: “To beat Vryheid does not happen to us very often. In fact, it is like tasting sugar – and we all love something sweet!”
He added Vryheid and Sentraal Rugby Clubs enjoyed a special relationship, and wished both clubs the best of luck in their semi-final bid.
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