Tiere Bite Brakkies

“Anything can happen at Interschools,” said the wise man. And on Saturday at Brackenfell he was again proved true when Tygerberg beat the runaway favourites Brackenfell 19-8 on Brackenfell’s home ground.

Maybe it was the weather – a wild northwester carrying cold rain.
Maybe it was punishment for overconfidence.
Maybe being underdogs was a spur to the Tiere’s determination and focus.

The rugby match, an FNB Classic Clash, was the culmination of a week’s contact between the two schools, the climax of the Interschools. There is no overall winner though the winner is usually defined by the outcome of the 1st XV match.

This year Brackenfell had had a better overall season and had home ground advantage. But both schools were present on the excited, cheerful, colourful stands with their eager song.

Brackenfell played with the wind in the first half, kicked off and scored first when Tygerberg were penalised and Raven Smith kicked the goal.

Brackenfell continued go have the upperhand, dominating possession and winning tackle ball. Right wing Wihan Julies had a strong run and then from a scrum on Brackenfell’s left, they went wide right. Marcqiewn Titus, over from the left wing, forced a gap and the ball went out to Julies who scored his try in the right corner despite the attempts of three defenders to stop him. 8-0.

But Tygerberg were not about to roll over. They started running free and attacked, right and left. Big eighthman HD Stemmet charged at the line where he was tackled. He was at the line but the tackler clung to him and prevented him from stretching out to score. Referee Jonathan Kaplan awarded a penalty try and sent a Brackenfell player to the sin bin. That made the score 8-7, the half-time score.

Right from the start of the second half, Tygerberg raced onto the attack. From an attacking scrum, scrumhalf Byren Strydom did well under pressure to send the ball to flyhalf Sean Gordon who gathered the rolling  ball and ran straight ahead to score under the posts with a defender hanging onto the stretching tail of his jersey. He converted his own try and Tygerberg had the lead at 14-8 after just three minutes of the second half.

Five minutes later, Brackenfell were attacking in the Tygerberg half but dropped the ball. Tygerberg gathered and gave to fullback Chishoilm September who chipped downfield and chased after it. The ball bounced awkwardly for the defender but perfectly for September who got it and raced some 40 metres to score. 19-8.

There were 27 minutes to play but the score did not change. When the final whistle sounded, excited Tygerbergers raced out onto the field, bobbing, laughing, and shouting in joy.

It was a surprise victory but a deserved one.

Scorers

For Tygerberg:
Tries: penalty try, Sean Gordon, Chisholm September
Cons: Sean Gordon plus the two points which are a part of a penalty try

For Brackenfell:
Try: Wihan Julies
Pen: Raven Smith

Teams

Brackenfell: 15 Bredon Diedericks, 14 Wihan Julies, 13 Arno Wolfaardt, 12 Jade-Lee Andreas, 11 Marcqiewn Titus, 10 Raven Smith, 9 Hanno Jordan, 8 Johan Mundey, 7 Dillon Fouché, 6 Chean Truter, 5 Rickus Neethling, 4 George Olivier, 3 Justin Du Toit, 2 Charl Pretorius, 1 Jamie Lynas.
Replacements: 16 Francois van Deventer, 17 Alex Moore, 18 Stephen Gerber, 19 Chadley Roziers, 20 Sibelekwana Ndinandi, 21 Ruben Brink, 22 Timothy Shortles.

Tygerberg: 15 Chrisholm September, 14 Jesse Basson, 13 Tandile Hoyi, 12 John Henry Pienaar, 11 Alessandro Dirk, 10 Sean Gordon, 9 Byren Strydom, 8 HD Stemmet, 7 Edja de Meyer, 6 JP Matthee, 5 Liam Tattersall, 4 Dian Basson, 3 Divan Daniel, 2 Oaklet Coonyers, 1 Rayden Phillips.
Replacements: 16 Chadyan Botha, 17 Matthew Hobbs, 18 Brian Esterhuizen, 19 Jeandré Rawles, 20 Yosef Uys, 21 Wiehan Meyer, 22 Grant Dampies.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (Western Province Referees’ Society)
Assistant referees: André van Wyk (Western Province Referees’ Society), Dylen November (Western Province Referees’ Society)

Recent Results

2010: Tygerberg won 64-6
2011: Tygerberg won 61-12
2012: Tygerberg won 14-10
2013: Tygerberg won 22-10
2014: Draw 22-22
2015: Tygerberg won 27-11
2016: Brackenfell won 30-19
2017: Brackenfell won 58-0
2018: Tygerberg won 19-8