Hollywoodbets Quentin Reynolds Tens kicks off at Harlequins

VARIOUS rugby clubs came out guns blazing to kick off the three-round Hollywoodbets Quentin Reynolds Tens 2021 on Saturday, October 16 held at Harlequins Sports Club.

Vernon Chetty of KZN Rugby Union said the tournament was to promote club rugby. “We went through a very challenging time with the Covid-19 pandemic that messed our leagues up. We have now come up with festivals to grow the game and help get players back and interested. Now with the vaccination drive, we can slowly look towards a normal life. towards 2022 we are hoping that everyone will be vaccinated and we have our leagues back to normal and start producing the future Siya Kolisi’s and Thomas du Toit.

“A massive thank you to all our sponsors, Hollywoodbets, SAB, Flyer and Time Clothing who always come to the party. The KZN Department of Sports and Recreation also needs to be saluted. We see players coming from different communities participating in our festivals and tournaments. Rugby is providing social cohesion and we’re glad to see such a great turnout from the different clubs and it is only going to get better.”

Playing on home ground on the first round of the tournament, Harlequins took on Mangosuthu University of Technology (12-15), Ogwini Bafana (17-9), Claremont Whales (17-17) and Rhinos (42-5), claiming two wins for the day.

Commenting on the days’ games, Harlequins coach, Pierre Smuts said a lot of work still needs to be done to avoid mistakes that cost the game.

“I think we didn’t push up fast enough to close the gaps. Tens rugby is a fast-paced type of rugby so you’ve got to be on it. You can’t turn your back for one second. We unnecessarily dropped the ball causing several faults. We struggled to keep the ball. Handoffs are also still an issue as we’re not getting past the first line. Other than that our attack was quite sharp. The guys are getting back into it slowly so hopefully, our performance in the next game should be better,” he said.