By Ben-Piet Lotter
Martin ‘Biggie’ Mhlongo ran out ahead of his teammates, celebrating his 50th cap for the Rats and concluded matters with a great carry to help set up the last try. As a reward he was given the conversion which he executed with more style than we have ever seen from a prop – sadly just missing. The game started with Roodepoort being dominant in the scrums. After seven minutes we had seen 3 scrums and 3 penalties to Roodepoort. In what became the tale of their afternoon however, they were unable to convert any of these opportunities to points. In the fourth scrum Dillon Bakos applied pressure on the Roodepoort right shoulder with a good hit and Anthony Gallagher, looking like he had figured out his opponent, forced Roodepoort to walk around, gifting the penalty to Pirates. This resulted in a small win for Pirates and perhaps also a turning point in the match as Pirates kicked to the corner, set a strong maul, and scored. In the fifth scrum Pirates had the ascendancy again, allowing their backs to put pressure on the Roodepoort line; Duncan Delport and Sinethemba ‘Snez’ Mapaqa needed no second invitation and executed two great hits in quick succession, stifling the Roodepoort attack. The match continued in this vein with Pirates playing with more freedom as the afternoon progressed. Pirates scored 8 more tries, sealing their 57-0 victory. Dillon Bakos was named man of the match in a dominant performance with ball in hand, in defence, and in the scrums. However, Keegan Lailvaux deserves a special mention: He controlled the match brilliantly with ball in hand, splitting the Roodepoort midfield before putting Wesley Flanagan away, throwing a pinpoint skip pass to Jarred Branco for his try, and keeping his team on the front foot with great exit kicks on a windy afternoon. In other Castle Lager Pirates Grand Challenge action, Wanderers went down to WITS 97-5 while Raiders took a step closer to a semifinal spot with a 40-35 victory over the University of Johannesburg.
