by Ben-Piet Lotter
Raiders welcomed us with their customary hospitality, a warm meal, and a thrilling day of
rugby. Keeping the scorers busy, Raiders redeemed themselves with improved set pieces and
breakdown dominance. On the other hand, Wanderers, under sustained pressure, were
starved of possession and stretched defensively. While they fought valiantly, the attrition
was visible, with cracks appearing as the game progressed. Coach Coutts said that their
“young group will learn a huge amount from this game and the experience of playing against
a solid outfit,” while Derek Jardine, Raiders’ director of rugby, felt that “Wanderers is much
better than the [70-0] score indicates”.
Roodepoort built on the lessons learnt from their loss to WITS last week to beat Alberton 63-
0. Kewan Gibb controlled the tempo from 9 for Poorte and scored 3 of his team’s 10 tries.
Roodepoort coach Neil Kalify said: “Alberton are definitely a good side; it was just a very
good and solid performance from Poorte.”
Pirates were well prepared for their clash against PUKKE but a red, and two yellow cards,
made it tough for the Greenside outfit to compete. Despite Pirates’ fighting spirit, Libho
Geza creating good front foot ball, Kevin du Randt being instrumental in the set piece and
loose facets, and Keagan Lailvaux putting up a stellar defensive performance, it was just not
enough, and the match culminated in a 38-20 final score to PUKKE.
In a replay of their Varsity Cup fixture earlier this year, WITS, in their clash with UJ, found
themselves behind by a significant margin. “The boys found themselves in a dark place but
used opportunities at vital times to start swinging the momentum,” said Jamie de Bruin,
WITS backline coach. Ziyanda Msipa and Jason Lee Cloete showed calm confidence off the
bench, while moments of brilliance from Mark Snyman and Alex Skudder set the scene for
the fight-back. In true storybook fashion, 18-year-old Dustyn Holmes, in his first year out of
school, started in his first match for the senior first team, scored a great try, was named Man
of the Match, and left with the broadest smile after their 29-27 victory.
