Wanderers strengthened their position at the top of the MTC Rugby Premier League with a hard fought 26-15 victory against second-placed Reho Falcon at the Wanderers field on Saturday.
Wanderers’ pack laid the foundation with a powerful display in the set pieces and mauls, where eighthman PJ van Lill was once again outstanding.
Van Lill set up numerous scoring opportunities with his bullocking runs, that had Falcons’ defence at full stretch as it often took two or three players to pull the rampaging forward down.
Although Wanderers were comfortable winners in the end, the final score line could have been much closer had Falcons’ fullback Howard Titus not had an off day with the boot. He missed at least five goalable penalties, one of which was from right in front of the posts, and had he succeeded with all of them Falcons could even have won the match.
On the other hand, Wanderers’ kicker Haico Prinsloo gave a fine performance with the boot, scoring 16 points with four penalties and two conversions.
Falcons took an early lead after scrumhalf Collin de Koe rounded off a blind side attack with a try, but Titus missed the conversion attempt.
Wanderers soon drew level as Van Lill set up flanker Alberto Engelbrecht’s try with a storming run, while Prinsloo’s conversion put them ahead for the first time.
Two penalties by Prinsloo and one by Titus put Wanderers 13-8 ahead and just before halftime Wanderers went 20-8 ahead after Van Lill crashed through several tackles to touch down.
Reho Falcon showed more purpose in the second half but Wanderers’ defence held out till the final minutes when Luwayne Kotze scored a consolation try from a counterattack.
Falcons kept on attacking but Wanderers defended courageously, none more so than flanker Tinus du Plessis who brought off a try-saving tackle on Falcons flanker Deon Pieters in injury time, that left Du Plessis with a dislocated shoulder.
The victory saw Wanderers move four points clear at the top of the log on 48 points while Falcons remain second on 44 points.
Mariental remain third on the log on 40 points after their opponents United failed to turn up for their match in Mariental. United apparently could only field one prop for their first and second teams to face Mariental and had to forfeit the match due to a lack of players. It was a big blow for United who now drop down to seventh position on 30 points and with only one match remaining they are now definitely out of the running for a semifinal place.
Defending champions Rehoboth pulled off a commanding 39-16 victory against Western Suburbs in Rehoboth on Saturday to move fourth on the log and strengthen their chances of a semifinal spot.
Rehoboth bagged an extra bonus point by scoring six tries to take their total to 37 points, which puts them well clear of Suburbs who are fifth on 32 points.
Kudus moved one place up to sixth position on the log after a hard fought 27-22 victory against Unam at Narraville.
Both teams scored four tries with the result that Kudus moved up to sixth position on 31 points while Unam remain bottom of the log on 18 points.
The log standings after completion of Round 13 are attached.
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| R13 Log Standings.doc | 15 KB |