SKZN rugby back to winning ways

THE Tiago’s Southern KwaZulu-Natal (SKZN) rugby side recorded a major victory in its second Ebbo Bastard title in three years, when it beat Northern KwaZulu-Natal (NKZN) 38-15 at Douglas Mitchell Sports Grounds last Saturday. Team captain Juan van der Berg said he had been particularly impressed by the team’s performance.

“We thought that the team had gelled quite well after claiming away wins over Durban and Zululand in our first two fixtures,” said Juan. The win is a sign that the team is finally turning the corner. With nothing else to lose, the home team showed what they were capable of and applied themselves to the best of their ability!

“This was obviously a big win for us and we showed good spirit on the field. We will take that confidence into our next match against Midlands in Kokstad this Saturday. There is a lot of positive we can take from our performance and hopefully we can build on that in our upcoming matches,” he explained.

Backline Man of the Match Jaques Petzer-Moore, one of several Fidelity South Coast Warriors in the side, produced a splendid performance in the number 10 jersey. The team’s result was comprehensive and some individuals produced inspired performances, which couldn’t be ignored. “In previous matches we felt we did not execute our plans as planned, but that certainly wasn’t the case today,” said Juan.

However, for Juan and his team, the one lesson learnt from the match against NKZN is that they shouldn’t place too much emphasis on who the opponent is on any given match day. “For the next fixture, we aren’t going to worry too much about the opponent, but rather we will centre our focus on playing the brand of rugby that we are capable of,” added Juan.

Dougie Haralambous, Southern KwaZulu-Natal Rugby president, said that he was very proud of the team. “They played very well and showed a lot of commitment and passion for the game. This just shows how strong rugby in our region is.”