Promising early-season signs from Warriors
There is a lot to look forward to for the local rugby team.
THE Fidelity Security South Coast Warriors appear to be in good form if the pre-season friendlies are anything to go by.
Premier league team Crusaders got more than bargained for at Douglas Mitchell Sports Ground last Saturday, with the Warriors keeping them scoreless for 75 minutes.
“The Warriors were outstanding and a lot of players have put their hands up to wear the first team jersey this year. I am impressed with the way the team outplayed Crusaders in several aspects of the game, especially in the scrums. Our defence was awesome and the guys showed a lot of character and guts,” said coach Christo Henderson.
It may have been a friendly but it looked pretty intense.
“We played 20 minute chukkas and we agreed that the fourth and last chukka would be 30 minutes, so in total the boys played 90 minutes of intense rugby. They showed that they can stand their ground against premier division clubs. This was our third premier club friendly game and we have sent all three teams back home with headaches for their coaching staff,” said Christo.
The Crusaders broke the deadlock in the 75th minute, but the Warriors bounced back to score in the corner after a number of phases.
A few minutes after that their powerful scrumming saw them awarded more penalties, which led to an excellent try from scrum-half Chris Mitchell.
That would have been the game, but during the extra 10 minutes, Crusaders scored again, twice, to finish the 90 minutes 15-10 ahead.
The Warriors now have the Kokstad 10s this Saturday to look forward to.
Then, on March 14, they will defend their Usher Cup trophy at Douglas Mitchell Sports Ground.
The Usher Cup promises to be a lot of fun with loads of entertainment for the whole family.
There will be 23 games played during the day, with the action starting at 8am till late at night.
The first league game is on April 11.
The Warriors thanked various sponsors for coming on board this season, namely Fidelity Security, County Ford, Status Panelbeaters, Douglas Mitchell Sports Bar, Margate Sport School, Nashua South Coast (7’s) and Halfway Toyota (Usher Cup).
