Tough as nails rugby 1sts clinch first division
Piet Retief went into an early 6-0 lead after the Toti forwards were twice penalised for indiscretions at the ruck
TOTI’s first team rugby were crowned overall first division champions after a hard fought 26-20 win over North section winners Piet Retief on Friday afternoon at Growthpoint Kings Park.
In so doing they retained the 105-year-old Dewar Shield, arguably one of the most impressive pieces of silverware in the KZNRU trophy cabinet.
As is generally the case in finals rugby, the game was a closely contested affair with both teams probing for weaknesses in their respective opposition’s defences, with Piet Retief using their big forwards as battering rams in their attempts to breach the solid Toti defensive lines.
Piet Retief went into an early 6-0 lead after the Toti forwards were twice penalised for indiscretions at the ruck. Toti, however struck back with a penalty of their own via the boot of Rouche Kleynhans to narrow the gap to 6-3. After the resultant kick off, Toti worked the ball upfield and set up a ruck near the Piet Retief try line and after some sustained pressure, Kevin Buck exploited some poor defence to barrel over the line to give Toti an 8-6 lead. This was short lived however, as Piet Retief converted another penalty to give them a 9-6 half time lead.
The second half produced two game changing moments, one of madness from Piet Retief, and one of brilliance from Toti.
The moment of madness came when the big Piet Retief eighth man put in a brutal shoulder charge on Toti fullback Sheldon Higgo, leaving the referee with no choice but to send him off for an early shower. That Higgo even got back to his feet, let alone continued with the game after that cynical act bears testament to the courage of the young man and the great season he has had in the last line of Toti’s defence. Wimpie Pretorius slotted the ensuing penalty to level the scores at 9-9.
The moment of brilliance came soon after that when, after some enterprising play from the Toti backs, Pretorius at outside centre ran a brilliant line to score a great try, leaving the Piet Retief defence flat-footed in his wake. This gave Toti a handy 16-9 lead going into the final quarter of the match.
Michael Uppink then also got in on the try-scoring act, going over the whitewash from a well worked line-out drive. The extra two points were added by Pretorius to give Toti a seemingly unassailable 23-9 lead.
Piet Retief, however, had other ideas and came back strongly, scoring a try and two penalties to bring the score to an agonisingly close 23-20 before Toti put another penalty over to get some breathing space at 26-20.
Piet Retief launched one final assault on the Toti line in an attempt to snatch victory. This was not to be however, as Toti turned over possession and hung onto it until the final whistle blew to give them a well-deserved victory. This brought a close to a fantastic league season where the team suffered only one loss in an away game to Richards Bay in the season opener.
The backline man of the match went to Sheldon Higgo for his brilliant performance and courage under fire at fullback. Gerhard Rudolph, who has found a new lease on life after shifting to the side of the scrum from the midfield, was adjudicated forwards man of the match for an outstanding all round display, sometimes without regard for his own safety.
Attention now turns to the Castle Lager Murray Cup knockout competition where Toti will be in action in the feature game of the weekend against College Rovers, who are the Premier division champions, and arguably the best club side in the country. Rovers will be sure to field a number of well-known players in their team as they take on the South Coast Terriers at Hutchison Park at 2.30pm on Saturday. All club rugby supporters are urged to go down to the field on Saturday to enjoy a day of fun, friendship and great club rugby.
