by Ben-Piet Lotter
The Castle Lager Pirates Grand Challenge matches held over the weekend were a thrilling spectacle for
rugby fans. The Feature Game at Pirates drew a sizable crowd of around 2500 attendees, a testament to
the exciting rugby on display. The festivities didn’t end with the final whistle and the energy at the club
was palpable throughout the day. The presence of Thomas Lawrence, Marketing Manager at Castle
Lager, and his team added to the occasion. Their support and involvement on the ground have been
instrumental in the success of the Castle Lager Pirates Grand Challenge, which aims to take community
rugby to new heights. It was a pleasure to have them in attendance.
Pirates’ first team coach Brian Armitage will take heart from his team’s 31 – 24 victory over Raiders after a
disruptive start against a Raiders team that made it difficult for them. Although it remained tough in the
second half, “the team did well to play in the right areas of the field especially during the last 10 minutes”
which set up the win, said Brian. Man of the Match, Dillon Bakos’s exceptional work rate laid the
foundation for Pirates to take control of the second half. Sinethemba Maphaua was instrumental on
defence and attack, and Brynn Dean added the icing with a hat trick of tries.
Raiders were trailing 28-24 with seven minutes remaining and were ready to break the hearts of Pirates
“but a couple of wrong options in the dying minutes cost us the victory,” lamented Aadil Davis, Raiders
Club Captain. Raiders scrummed well and were most adept at stopping the maul. However, their three
brilliant tries were just not enough on the day. Davis emphasised that Raiders remain determined to win
the league this year and believes that the team will only get better with time.
Neil Kalify’s Roodepoort team faced a tough challenge testing themselves against a WITS side that
included several returning Varsity Cup players. Despite the daunting opposition, Roodepoort put up a
valiant effort, with Jacques Durand from WITS commending their solid set piece and strong defence that
kept them in the game, leading 7-5 at halftime. However, WITS’s superior conditioning and skills allowed
them to dominate the last twenty minutes of the game, ultimately pulling away to a 43-10 victory against
the West Rand team. Nevertheless, Roodepoort will prove tough to beat this year.
The Wanderers vs. Alberton match “was a tough contest, a real brutal battle and slug fest at times,” Guy
Coutts, Wanderers Coach will rue basic errors that stopped them from converting possession to points. In
contrast, Alberton capitalised on their chances, scoring a crucial long-range penalty through Juan
Westenberg and a spectacular try when Bennie Botes broke away and offloaded to Justin Liebenberg on
the line. The final score was 10-0 in favour of Alberton.
Visiting NWU Pukke delivered UJ’s second loss in two matches and returned to Potchefstroom with a 38-0 victory in the bag.
The players will enjoy a welcome break over the long weekend and be back on the 6th of May when our
Feature Match will be played at the Bill Jardine Stadium where Raiders will be hosting Wanderers.
