RIVERSMEAD South Coast Warriors bounced back with a resounding 31-10 win over Newcastle Highlanders at Douglas Mitchell Sports Ground last Saturday.
Tries were scored by centre Theo Nicholls, wing Arnold Kruger, eighth-man Juan van den Berg, hooker Jaques Coetzee, prop Lourens Stapelberg.
Tienie Viljoen converted three of the tries, one of them from the touchline.
The tries were scored as a result of some brilliant backline flair and good, old-fashioned power among the forwards.
Captain van den Berg did produce his trademark ‘dummy’ to dot down without a defender getting a hand on him.
On the day the defence structures were outstanding, but overall, the team gelled and the players simply enjoyed their rugby.
Man of the match was Coetzee. “After his return this week from a rib injury he had a massive game. His line-out throws were spot on and he scored that excellent individual try. He had one of his best games of the year so far,” said coach Christo Henderson.
Backline man of the match was Ra-iq Ploker. “He was outstanding on the day in defence and kept the speedster from Highlanders, ‘Ferrari’ Hadebe under control. He was also outstanding on the attack. After half-time he moved back to fly-half from wing and got the backline going, adding excitement to the game,” said Henderson.
The win means the Warriors move above the Rhinos on the log and have a game in hand.
“We are starting to move up the log slowly so I can only see good things for us in 2017,” said Henderson.
The Warriors play their last league game against Durban Crusaders at home this Saturday and are looking forward to ending their first season in the premier league on a high note.
The Junior Warriors (U13, U15 and U18) play warm up games as curtain-raisers this Saturday, starting from 10.30am.
Then the attention moves across to the Castle Murray Cup – the draw will be done at Kings Park next Monday (18th).
Final log positions will determine seedings, with the bottom eight teams hosting top eight teams in the qualifying round.
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