THE victory margin was narrow at 27-24, but the message it sent was huge.
It took 100 minutes of physical, action-packed rugby to separate victors Richards Bay 1 over Rhinos 1 in a first round knock-out Castle Murray Cup clash at Richards Bay Rugby Club on Saturday afternoon.
Brewery sales soared through the roof after the underdogs used team play to beat a star-studded Rhinos outfit, who learnt individualism cannot win a game, hence proving the famous old adage ‘There’s no ‘I’ in team’.
The game was well controlled by Marius Jonker, with Beyers Habig and André Geldenhuys running the touch line.
Spectators were kept entertained and on the edge of their seats, right from the kick-off.
The home side got onto the scoreboard first, through a try from flyhalf JP Rossouw, which he converted to give his side a early 7-0 lead.
Rossouw followed this up with a penalty conversion to extend the lead to 10-0.
Rhinos’ flyhalf Dirk de Waal then opened the visitors’ scoring account with a try which he converted to take the score to 10-7.
Bay winger Dillan Coulson then intercepted play and scored in the corner, with Rossouw converting to extend their lead to 17-7.
Flanker Martin Stander then dotted down in reply to end the first half at 17-12 to the Bay.
The Rhinos played into a pumping wind in the first half, which affected their game plan and strategy.
The visitors did dominate the set pieces, but failed dismally in the backline, even with good clean ball.
The Bay brutes absorbed the first half pressure and capatilised on the Rhinos’ mistakes, turning errors into points which proved costly.
Richards Bay backline outplayed the visiting backs in the first 45 minutes.
Tight contest
The second half action proved highly entertaining, with Rhinos scoring first through a try from De Waal to level the scores at 17-apiece.
Rhinos, who were chasing the game all day long, eventually took the lead in the 67th minute through another try from De Waal, which he converted to give the visiting outfit a 24-17 lead.
Just when the Empangeni spectators thought the game was done and dusted, Bay eighthman Erik Kirsten crashed over for a try under the sticks which JP converted to level the playing field at 24-all.
That is where the game ended, and extra time beckoned.
Two 10-minute halves were played, with both sides coming ever close to clenching the game, but in the end, it was another Rhinos mistake which gave victory to the Bay.
A penalty and yellow card in front of the poles in the 98th minute, resulted in a conversion from JP Rossouw to hand the Bay a 27-24 win.
Rhinos’ nightmare of a 2014 season continued and with the promotion/relegation game coming up in a few weeks’ time at Mick Kelly Park, when Rhinos 1 play Newcastle Highlanders, I am afraid relegation could result for the Empangeni outfit.
Richards Bay were the better team on the day, and have had great back-to-back seasons, to the credit of good coaching staff and support structures within the club.
