Toti climbs rugby premier league log
Saturday saw a top of the table clash between Toti 3rds and Varsity College in the Foaden Bowl.
AMANZIMTOTI Rugby Club match reports for last week’s fixtures.
1st XV:
Toti first team moved up to third position on the Fidelity Security Moor Cup Premier Division log after a hard fought 19-13 win over Varsity College on Friday evening.
In a game that can be best described as a game of two halves, it was Toti who showed dominance in the opening 40 minutes, controlling all facets of play to lead 19-0 going into the half time break. This was through tries from Zander Erasmus, Jose Rodrigues and Lihle ‘Black Magic’ Mazibuko, with two tries converted by Jaco de Jager.
The half-time talk by the coaching staff was about keeping the needle in the heart of the opposition, who seemed stunned by developments in the first half. It was also about playing for field position, and striking from certain areas of the field to take the game away from the visitors. Toti, however, inexplicably lost all momentum in the second half, and after conceding two early penalties as well as a converted try, they found themselves defending a 19-13 lead with more than 20 minutes left to play.
Once again, Toti had to rely on well organised defence to keep a now fired-up Varsity College team from scoring any tries, which would have turned the game on its head after the very positive start from the local team. A red card, questionable at best, shown to Rodrigues late in the second half didn’t help Toti’s defensive cause very much, but the team banded together after this set back, showing enormous character to grind out the win.
2nd XV:
On Friday, 19 June the Toti 2nd side came up against Varsity College in a game that saw both sides dominating at certain times.
It was all Varsity College in the first 15 minutes, but through great defence, Toti’s second side was able to keep them away from the try line, but after two penalties, Varsity College was in the lead with 6-0.
Toti stuck to the game plan and after the nerves settled, they took the lead through flanker Jason Heins, who scored and converted his own try, bring the score up to 7-6 for Toti. Soon afterwards, lock Manie Steyn went over to score and Jason Heins converted again, bringing the score up to 14-6 for Toti. Toti dominated at scrum time and with great defence, the half time score remained 14-6.
The second half saw fullback Deon Pool get a try in the corner, making it 19–6 for Toti. Varsity College crawled back and through questionable calls by the referee, pulled the game back to 19-11. A penalty by Jason Heins got the Toti side 22-11 in the lead. Varsity College did not give up and scored a try against the run of play to make it 22-16. The last 15 minutes saw Toti defending much of the game, as they managed to keep Varsity College away from their scoring line for the rest of the game. With the replacements carrying on with the great work up front and in the back-line, Toti won with a final score of 22-16.
The forwards deserve a mention as they took the game away from Varsity College. Locks, Manie Steyn and Werner Kotze have a newfound energy and are playing great rugby. The three loose forwards, Danny Stokes, Jason Heins and JL Kotze are linking up and putting their bodies on the line in defence. The props, Randal Reddy and Dylan Kelly and hooker Trompie Theron really stood out and one has to say it was a great all-round team effort, with the backs defending with everything they had.
Flyhalf RD Janse Van Vuuren was backline man of the match and prop Randall Reddy got the honours upfront. This was a fantastic team effort and this team is really starting to look like a cohesive unit. In the eyes of the coaches, every player was a man of the match.
3rd XV:
Saturday saw a top of the table clash between Toti 3rds and Varsity College in the Foaden Bowl. Unfortunately the epic clash that was expected did not materialise as only the Varsity College team pitched for the battle. Toti were comprehensively outplayed and slumped to their first defeat of the season, going down 40-14.
Toti 1st and 2nd XV next face unbeaten log leaders Durban Collegians on Friday evening, 26 June at Hutchison Park. The games get underway with the second team kicking off at 6.30pm and the first team at 8pm. Go down and support the lads as they look to claim another big scalp. The third team will take on Ogwini Bafana on Saturday, 27 June at Hutchison Park, with kick-off scheduled at 3pm.
