Hat-trick of rugby wins for Bay

RICHARDS Bay Rugby Club made a clean sweep of victories this weekend.

The third team beat Ushaka Warriors 26-24 on Friday evening, while on Saturday the second side thrashed Harlequins 47-10 and the first team narrowly beat Harlequins 31-29.

The seconds kicked off the action on Saturday in a one-sided, dominant performance, which saw eighth man Armand Fourie dotting down three times.

Winger Gift Vilane opened the scoring for the home side with an unconverted try.

Vilane then found himself under the sticks minutes later, with captain Steven Renolds converting to take the score to 12-0.

Armand Fourie then scored, followed by a try from flanker Blessing Nhlozi, which Renolds converted to take their lead to 26-0.

The unbeaten second side took just 30 minutes to pick up a bonus point.

The home side dominated ball and field possession which, combined with a natural running game, resulted in a feast of tries.

Erenst Pretorius and Fourie (2) crossed the chalk in the second half, with Renolds converting all three to take the score to 47.

But ill-discipline and silly schoolboy errors in the last 20 minutes dried up the scoring for the Bay boys, which provided an opportunity for Harlequins to open their account.

The Durban lads managed to dot down twice to end the game at 47-10.

Close encounter

The first team game proved testing with both sides not giving the other an inch.

The visitors took a 22-14 lead going into the half time break, with tries coming from Frank Hughes and Jimmy Enslin, which Enslin converted.

The Bay bounced back in the second half and managed to steal the win, thanks to tries from Juandre Lotriet and Thulani Nqayi, which JP Rossouw converted.

Rossouw also kicked a penalty to end the score at 31.

The Bay will take this confidence into next week’s fixture, when they host log leaders Jaguars.

Kick-off times are 1:30pm and 3pm.