Bad day for Toti 1sts
The 2nd team came up against a formidable Rovers 2nd team who dominated most of the play on the night and came out comprehensive victors.
AMANZIMTOTI Rugby Club match reports:
1st XV
Every once in a while, a team has a bad day at the office, and Friday night, 2 July was one of those days for Toti’s firsts in their game against Jonsson College Rovers.
Areas in which Toti usually dominate, particularly defence, became something of a weakness, as Rovers’ first two tries came not so much from enterprising play from the home team, but rather from shoddy tackle technique which a team can ill afford against powerful runners.
Another area where Toti has been in destructive form this year, the scrum, also inexplicably creaked against a lighter Rovers pack, which in turn, put pressure on the back division who were forced into mistakes by the fired-up home team.
Having said all of this though, credit must be given where it is due, and Rovers were outstanding with some great attacking play. They were also very effective in smothering the dangerous 10 and 15 axis of Rodrigues and Mazibuko, which made any attack or counter attack from Toti difficult. Hard lessons will have been learned, and knowing this Toti outfit, they will bounce back strongly. The pre-season goal of a top three finish that the team set for themselves is still very much in their own hands going into the last three games of the season, starting with a trip on Saturday to Mick Kelly Park in Empangeni to take on Zululand Rhinos.
2nd XV
The 2nd team came up against a formidable Rovers 2nd team who dominated most of the play on the night and came out comprehensive victors.
It was always known that this was going to be one of those games against the second-placed Jonsson College Rovers outfit. Nevertheless, some positives were taken out of the game and the team look forward to some ‘easier’ opposition in the last three league games of the season.
3rd XV
On Friday the Toti 3rd XV, who lie second on the Foaden Bowl log, came up against third-placed Hillcrest Villagers 3rd XV side. As was expected the Hillcrest pack, which is massive by any standards, exerted significant pressure upfront and the Toti forwards had to battle extremely hard to win any ball at all, never mind quality ball.
Toti battled hard and used whatever clean ball they received to great effect and scored three superb tries in the first half. Kyle Gerard also kicked a few penalties and Toti turned 27-5 up at the break. Toti dominated the early part of the 2nd half and controlled the game until it was effectively over as a contest allowing 14 points to slip in during the last 10 minutes. The entertaining encounter was won 41-26 by Toti.
The next fixtures will see the 1st and 2nd XV travelling to Empangeni on Saturday, 11 July to take on the Zululand Rhinos. Kick-off is scheduled for 1.30pm for the 2nd XV and 3pm for the 1st XV. The third team will have a bye as their game has been postponed.
