Rhinos end Richards Bay’s season
This was the Bay's second bite at the Premier League apple
A WELL-OILED Mancosa Rhinos side ended Richards Bay’s dream season with a 54-22 knock-out blow in Saturday’s Junior Murray Cup quarter-final clash at the Richards Bay Rugby Club.
This was the Bay’s second bite at the Premier League apple, having played Amanzimtoti (lost 48-0) the week before, with both bites leaving a sour taste in the local team’s mouth.
Theoretically the Bay team’s season is done, depending on the outcome of the KZN Rugby Union special fixtures meeting in Durban tonight where the promotion/relegation fixture will be discussed.
If the fixture is approved, then Trevor Montgomery’s men will travel to Newcastle for a stab at promotion.
On Saturday the home team were first on the board when winger Vitalis Simelane crashed over in the corner to hand his side an early 5-0 lead.
Then two yellow cards were dished out for handbag slinging, seeing both sides restricted to 14 men.
Rhinos dominated possession and territorial advantage for the rest of the first half, which resulted in tries from scrumhalf Sydney Coetzee and flanker Blessing Nhlozi, which captain Dean Moolman converted (14-5).
But the Bay had the last say, with scrumhalf JB Heunis scoring a brilliant individual try to bring his team back to 14-10.
Richards Bay snuffed the Rhinos’ set pieces, winning a number of line-outs and tight heads.
After some serious half-time lectures from both coaches, the teams stepped it up a notch.
The Rhinos were first to score in the second half, with tries from Nhlozi and Carel Swart, which Moolman converted (28-10).
The Bay squad never gave up and kept fighting, which resulted in Simelane crossing the chalk for his second try of the day.
As the fierce competition continued, Rhinos lock Shawn Booth received yellow for a repeated offence (high tackle), leaving the visitors again with 14 men on the park.
Bay took immediate advantage, with winger Frank Hughes crashing over, with JP Rossouw converting and narrowing the deficit to six (28-22).
But this sparked the Rhinos to action, which resulted in tries from hooker Wouter Vermaak, Thokozani Mdluli and Moolman, with Moolman managing two conversions (47-22).
For the last 10 minutes of the game, the visitors played with 13 men after Nhlozi and Victor Campher received yellow cards for repeated infringements.
But this failed to sidetrack the visitors as Mdluli crossed over for his second try, which Moolman converted to hand the Rhinos a comfortable 54-22 victory.
In the earlier game, Richards Bay 2 managed to beat Rhinos 2 21-5, in a game that saw the visitors failing to maintain the ball for more than three phases.
Zac Dlomo scored for the Rhinos, with Reneir van Rooyen, Michael Horn and Raymond Kriedeman dotting down for the Bay outfit.
Steven Reynolds kicked two conversions with Divan Meintjies kicking one for their sides 21 points.
The Bay second team will travel through with the Rhinos to whoever they draw for the semi-finals on Saturday.
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