Roodepoort in Community Cup upset

A new Community Cup champion will be crowned on Monday – after the defending champions, Despatch, were knocked out on Thursday.

Johannesburg's Roodepoort upset Despatch in the opening match of the Easter play-offs at Outeniqua Park in George.

The tournament started with the upset as Despatch went down 20-26 against Roodepoort, but this was followed by a series of convincing victories by College Rovers, Rustenburg Impala and Hamiltons.

The 2013 runners-up College Rovers outplayed Old Selbornians 36-13 to stamp their authority early on in the competition, while Rustenburg Impala produced a solid performance against Roses United for the biggest win of the day, a fantastic 66-13 victory.

Hamiltons followed in their footsteps in the final match of the day as they registered an emphatic 40-10 victory against Centurion.

In Saturday’s semifinals Roses United will meet Old Selbornians and Centurion will take on Despatch in the lower half – while the main semifinals will be contested between Rustenburg Impala and College Rovers, while Hamiltons will face Roodepoort.

All the quarterfinal matches!

Despatch 20 (6) Roodepoort 26 (20)

Defending Community Cup champions Despatch stuttered in their opening match of the tournament after battling to contain a dominant Roodepoort side. The Johannesburg-based team applied pressure on attack early on and earned the rewards with three first-half tries.

Roodepoort prop Mauritz Vermeulen opened the scoring in the fifth minute, but this was followed by a few tight exchanges between the sides. Roodepoort, however, found their rhythm in the second quarter, which resulted in tries for wing Lesego Malau and Jaun Shaw and a penalty for flyhalf Hendrik Oosthuizen.

In return Despatch slotted over two penalties in the first half, and found themselves trailing 20-6 at the break.

The defending champions, however, bounced back strongly in the second half by reducing their errors on attack and stringing together phases, which allowed flyhalf Monty Dumond and replacement back Virgil Russel to cross the tryline, while Roodepoort kicked only a penalty. This comeback allowed Despatch to reduce the gap to 23-20 with eight minutes to go.

But hopes of a last gasp victory were dashed as Oosthuizen slotted over his third penalty with four minutes left on the clock, which pushed Roodepoort six points ahead – a lead which they defended successfully.

Scorers:

Despatch:

Tries: Dumond, Russel

Cons: Dumond 2

Pens: Dumond 2

Roodepoort:

Tries: Shaw, Malau, Van Rooyen

Con: Oosthuizen

Pens: Oosthuizen 3

College Rovers 36 (17) Old Selbornians 13 (3)

Community Cup 2013 runners-up College Rovers started off their Easter play-off campaign strongly by registering a convincing 36-13 victory against newcomers Old Selbornians. This victory reaffirmed their status as one of the favourites in the tournament for the second year running.

College Rovers flank Jean Pretorius was in fine form as he scored a hat-trick of tries, two of which were within six minutes early in the second half, to put his team on the front foot. In total the KwaZulu-Natal side scored five tries, of which two were scored in the first 20 minutes, while flyhalf Jeandré Small kicked a penalty shortly before half time to hand them a 17-3 lead.

Pretorius’ tries in the third quarter pushed the team further ahead on the scoreboard, while simultaneously piling pressure on Old Selbornians. The Border club, however, hit back in the last 20 minutes with tries by prop Dylan Pieterse and flank Marc Hammond to push their score into double figures and salvage some pride.

Scorers:

College Rovers:

Tries: Pretorius 3, Bester, Rick

Cons: Dannhauser 4

Pen: Small

Old Selbornians:

Tries: Pieterse, Hammond

Pen: Shone

Roses United 13 (3) Rustenburg Impala 66 (36)

The clash between Rustenburg Impala and Roses United was a largely one-sided affair, with Rustenburg Impala running riot on attack for most of the match. Such was the high quality of their attack they scored eight tries in total to only one by Roses United.

Four of Rustenburg Impala’s tries were scored in the first quarter in a fine display of attacking rugby, and they supported this with a fifth try before the break. Former Griquas and Western Province flyhalf Naas Olivier, meanwhile, kept the scoreboard ticking as he slotted over four conversions and one penalty.

In stark contrast Roses United were forced to settle for a single penalty by Ryan Julies, leaving them 36-3 behind at half time.

Rustenburg Impala wasted no time building on their strong first half after the break and scored their first five-pointer five minutes into the half thanks to Wendal Wehr.

Roses United tried hard to fight their way back into the match and made a few fantastic line breaks, but mistakes at crucial times cost them dearly and allowed them to cross the chalk only once.

Scorers:

Roses United:

Try: Ramat

Con: Julies

Pen: Julies

DG: Julies

Rustenburg Impala:

Tries: Matyeshana, Lewis 2, Wheeler, Nienaber, Joubert, Wehr, Kok

Cons: Lewis, Olivier 5, De Wet

Pens: Olivier 2, De Wet 2

Hamiltons 40 (13) Centurion 10 (3)

Hamiltons made their presence felt on debut at the Community Cup Easter play-offs by overpowering Centurion 40-10 in the closing match of the day.

The Western Province club used their possession well by stringing together phases on attack, which resulted in Centurion defending for long periods of time, and they supported this with a solid defensive effort. They also did well to capitalise on the opposition’s mistakes.

However, had it not been for a few turnovers at crucial times Hamiltons would have registered an even bigger victory, but there is no doubt they will pay special attention to this aspect of their game in their semifinal on Saturday.

So dominant were the Cape side, they scored five tries, to only one by Centurion who managed to cross the tryline only once in the dying minutes of the match to add to a penalty by Steven Moir for their disappointing 10 points.

They will, however, take some encouragement from the fact that they put together a few good phases on attack with ball in hand, but similarly to Roses United, mistakes cost them in the end.

Scorers:

Hamiltons:

Tries: Du Plessis 2, Van Zyl, Lawson, Jacobs

Cons: Vallender 3

Pens: Vallender 3

Centurion:

Try: Coetzee

Con: Moir

Pen: Moir

Saturday's fixtures:

Roses United v Old Selbornians – 12.30

Despatch v Centurion – 14.45

Rustenburg Impala v College Rovers (semifinal one) – 17.00

Hamiltons v Roodepoort (semifinal two) – 19.15