Bishops beat Drostdy

Match report

Bishops beat Drostdy of Worcester 33-5 on the Piley Rees Field at Bishops on Saturday as they recovered their rugby legs from the holiday excesses that had destroyed them in the second half against Paarl Gim the previous Saturday.

Gim beat Bishops 46-0 as they ran out of steam in Paarl who were gearing themselves for their passionate Interschools. This week Bishops ran in five tries to one in beating the strong Worcester side.

Bishops had much to thank their loose forwards, especially their brilliant eighthman Justin Bijl, and their centre Adrian Kritzinger for this victory. Those four players apart there was not much to choose between the sides. The foursome made the difference.

The Worcester side had opportunities to score but found the Bishops defence determines. Bishops had more opportunities to score than they actually did because of the wonders of their handling and the speed of their execution, especially Kritzinger's.

Much of the difference between the two sides lay in their approach to immediate opposition. Bishops sought to avoid contact while the Worcester side sought to make contact. Even in the scrums, where Drostdy have a massive front row which includes Emile Visser of the Boland Craven Week side, they were not dominant.

Playing at centre for Drostdy was Frederick Viljoen who had played for Boland at successive Craven Weeks. Kritzinger did not make the Western Province side, but he was the centre who shone on the day.

For Drostdy those who shone were scrumhalf Johann Joubert, a Craven Week player, flyhalf Willem Darius, who had been a wing till this year, a nippy little player, flank Kobus le Roux, who had been to Craven Week, and burly eighthman Dawie van der Merwe.

Bishops scored an early try when the forwards mauled a line-out to close to the Drostdy line and then released their backs. Flyhalf Peter Haw cut through on the diagonal and just when he looked like scoring himself he released the ball to Olly Braithwaite who cut through to the posts. Kritzinger converted.

After Bishops had lost the ball over the line, Drostdy broke the stranglehold when Joubert raced away from a scrum. Bishops dropped out and Drostdy countered, forcing a ruck in midfield. From it they went right and created an overlap for Marlo Lourens, the strong, speedy right-wing. He raced straight down the touch-line to score the try.

That was all the scoring in the half.

Kritzinger scored the first try of the second half when he looped around and received a pass near the half-way line and the right-hand touch-line, threw a dummy and raced through for a try in the corner.

Soon afterwards Haw thumped off an opponent with a hand-off and raced through to the posts to score. Kritzinger converted.

Bijl was twice involved in the fourth try. He ran wide and cleverly played back inside on the left. Bishops were held up over the line. Bijl picked up and charged from the ensuing five-metre scrum and then the ball went wide to the right where William Esau used an overlap to score in the corner. Kritzinger converted.
Bishops kept the best try till last. They started inside their 22 and then wove intricate patterns with short interpassing up the middle of the field before setting Bijl free to score close in. Kritzinger converted.

After this Daries had the sharpest break of the Drostdy game and looked on his way too scoring till fullback C van der Vyver thumped into him.

Scorers:

For Bishops:
Tries: Braithwaite, Kritzinger, Haw, Esau, Bijl
Cons: Kritzinger 4

For Drostdy:
Try: Lourens