National Club Rugby Round-up – A weekend of upsets
Welkom Rovers picked up their eighth win in a row in the Griffons’ First Division but it was the performance of underdogs Kroonstad that dominated talk in the Northern Free State on a weekend of upsets in nationwide club rugby action.
There were shock wins for, amongst others, Roodepoort (Golden Lions), Durbanville-Bellville and False Bay (both WP) over teams that have won three of the last four National Club Championships, while in other provinces a number of defending champions suffered potentially title-threatening losses.
Kroonstad, playing away, went down 23-19 to Rovers in a nailbiter but afterwards it was the platteland side who drew most of the praise. “It’s amazing what they’ve been able to do in such a short period of time,” said Rovers’ chairman, Brenden Kretzmann. “The coaching team there has done wonders.”
Kroonstad’s revival began last year when current Springbok Sevens selector and Griffons Platteland coach Maree Bester was asked to take over at the ailing club. “The team came last in 2009 and lost one game by 100 points,” said Bester. “I was asked to take over in 2010 and although we still didn’t do that well I was able to make some changes and identify a core group of players that I could work with.
“There are a lot of good young players in Kroonstad thanks to our two well-known high schools, Rooiskool and Blouskool, but we realised that after school these players never went on to play club rugby.”
Bester concentrated on building a base of under-21 players and this season the team are challenging the Harmony Academy at the top of the log. The club’s third team, used to give youngsters further exposure, made their final in 2010 and are unbeaten this year.
Bester believes that although Kroonstad should have beaten Rovers, in the long run the defeat taught his players valuable lessons. “There has been a 200 percent improvement this year,” he said. “The guys have realised now what it takes to beat the top team. They understand that they need to train harder and they’ve all bought into this. It would’ve been great to win, but perhaps then the players would have allowed it to go to their heads.
“Our big challenge now, which isn’t unique to the Griffons, is to get more players to clubs.”
In other Griffons matches, champions Bethlehem Oud-Skoliere, who have lost two games so far, stayed in contention thanks to a huge 94-19 win over Police.
There were plenty of shocks in weekend action from around the country, with Roodepoort’s 19-18 win over NWU-Pukke in the Golden Lions’ Predator League one of the most talked about. In other matches, Pirates beat FNB Varsity Shield finalists FNB Wits 48-29, Union outclassed Vaal Reefs 48-8, Rustenburg Impala overcame Raiders 48-39 and FNB UJ hammered Alberton 73-15.
There were also upsets galore in the Western Province Super League A. FNB Maties lost their five-match unbeaten record when they were beaten 15-9 at home by sixth-placed Durbanville-Bellville, whom Stellenbosch coach Chean Roux had predicted at the start of the season would be strong title contenders. False Bay pulled off another upset when they recovered from a 58-7 midweek drubbing at the hands of Maties to edge out 2009 National Club Champions Hamilton 15-14.
The results leave the league evenly poised, with the leader after the first round of nine round-robin matches qualifying for the National Club Champs.
Varsity Cup finalists and defending Blue Bulls Carlton League champions FNB Tuks went top of the table after two rounds thanks to a 32-6 win over Naka Bulle. Pretoria Police, the 2009 champions, are one point behind after their 39-19 victory over Silver Valke. In the weekend’s other game, Centurion beat TUT 36-27.
Wesbank surrendered their five-match unbeaten run in the Boland Premier League when they lost 8-5 to Black Leaves in Gansbaai, thereby allowing champions Roses United to climb to the top of the table following their 36-15 win over Saldanha Bay.
Buffalo made their move in the Border Super League when they hammered unbeaten Cambridge 38-12, allowing Old Selbornian to take top spot thanks to a 22-8 win over Swallows. FNB Varsity Shield team Fort Hare are also well placed following their third win in four matches, 16-10 against last year’s National Club Champs Plate finalists East London Police, while Winter Rose move into the top half after a 23-15 win over Berlin Tigers.
SAPS look like title contenders once again in the 14-team Eastern Province Grand Challenge after their 31-10 away trouncing of champions Progress. The Bobbies have a full house of 20 points from four matches to lead Pool A ahead of nearest rivals PE Harlequins, who beat Gardens 20-6. In Pool B, Despatch extended their unbeaten run to four matches following a hard-fought 23-9 win over Suburban. There were also wins for second-placed NMMU Madibaz (27-12 over 2009 champs Park) and third-placed African Bombers (10-7 over Kruisfontein).
Shimlas got into their stride in the Free State First League with a 75-6 thumping of Bloemfontein United, a composite side consisting of the Crusaders, Mangaung and Warriors clubs.
Jonsson College Rovers, the reigning national club champions, look set for yet another titanic struggle with archrivals Acer Durban Collegians in the KZN Fidelity Security Premier Division. In what is one of the country’s most strongly-contested leagues, Rovers, champions for the past five years, beat Bluff Superspar Harlequins 21-5 although they will regret not picking up a bonus point. Collegians, who reached the National Club Champs semi-finals the last time they won the KZN title, in 2005, beat Thanda/ZRA Zululand Rhinos 23-8.
Ferro’s beat Sasol 32-23 in the big battle of the Mpumalanga Hoëveld-Koolveld region, while champions Middelburg overwhelmed Hurricanes 51-0. In the Lowveld, Barberton continued their impressive form with a 22-15 victory over Nelspruit while White River overcame Malelane 29-19.
SWD champions Barbarians stayed on course to defend their title with a 10-8 win over lowly Swellendam, while there were also wins for Bridgton, George and Evergreens.
In the Valke Peregrine Super League, Springs made it four wins in a row when they beat Vereeniging 36-18 while rivals Brakpan stayed in touch with a 31-13 away win over Nigel. NWU-Vaal Pukke stay third thanks to their 40-22 win over Boksburg.
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