Drostdy Pip Dale at Kearsney
With both the King Williams Town team, Dale College, and the team from Worcester, HTS Drostdy, feeling one another out, it took 13 minutes before there was any score. Drostdy’s heavier pack of forwards began winning more of the possession. From a scrum, scrumhalf Romeo Eksteen made a break to score a five-pointer.
Drostdy kept pressurising Dale, preventing them from showing their normal flare and with Drostdy growing in confidence they were rewarded when fullback Cohen Jasper broke from a ruck through the middle, eventually going over without a Dale finger touching him. An easy conversion by Jasper saw Drostdy into a 12-0 lead.
This they increased to 19-0 when left wing Adriaan Maans had a 45m-run down the left touchline and, with inside and outside jinks, went over 10m from the upright. Jasper converted to give the Western Cape lads a 19-0 half-time lead.
Dale came out in the second half with greater determination. Very few scrums enabled them to get clean ball as Drostdy forwards had them retreating. Despite this, the Dalians persevered and were rewarded when the ball was moved quickly to centre Siphamandla Matsinya who sliced through the defence to score. It was converted by captain Aphelele Fassi to narrow the gap to 7-19.
The more the game was unstructured, the more it suited Dale. Their rush defence prevented Drostdy getting over the line and when they worked their way down the right hand to force a ruck in the corner, eighthman Thandile Mpangeva scored with a pick and go. Fassi could not convert but Dale were now within seven points of the Drostdy score.
With six minutes remaining, Dale’s Soyama Mini used good pace down the touchline, passing inside to centre Matsinya who drove through a tackle to score. With Fassi converting, the scores were level.
Within four minutes of the end, Dale were awarded a penalty which Fassi converted; just before the final whistle, Fassi put over a 45m-drop goal for a 25-19 lead.
With time up, Christie Grobbelaar broke and evaded the defence to score. Jasper converted to snatch a 26-25 victory for Drostdy.
This ended a good comeback from Dale in the second half where they played the rugby that the crowd expected. However, it was Drostdy that made an ultimate effort in the last 30 seconds to win a cracking game.
Scorers:
For HTS Drostdy:
Tries: Cohen Jasper, Christie Grobbelaar, Adriaan Maans, Romeo Eksteen
Cons: Cohern Jasper 3
For Dale College:
Tries: Siphamandla Matsinya 2, Thandile Mpangeva
Cons: Aphelele Fassi 2
Pen: Aphelele Fassi
Drop: Aphelele Fassi
