No luck for Rhinos in Durban

POOR line-outs and dubious refereeing proved to be the Rhinos’ Achilles heel in their loss to Varsity College Old Boys in Saturday’s Castle Premier League clash at the Riverside Sports Grounds.

Despite going down 14-21 to a side that completely dominated, another worrisome issue was the lack of emergency medical support for both the first and second team games.

The physical encounter between the first teams resulted in cases of a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), a broken collarbone and torn eyelid, yet no medical services were available to treat the injured players.

But putting rugby political issues aside, the Rhinos 1 outfit put on a courageous display and the result was not a true reflection of the performance on the field.

The home side came out with a bang, scoring in the corner in the first seven minutes of the game to take an early 5-0 lead.

But the Rhinos responded and started to dominate in the the scrums and breakdowns, while their defence held firm – which resulted in two penalties.

Captain Jors Dannhauser packed his kicking boots, slotting both penalties to give his team a narrow 6-5 lead.

The ding-dong battle continued, with Rhinos putting their bodies on the line and landing huge tackles to maintain majority ball possession.

Varsity kicked a penalty just before the end of the half, to take a 8-6 lead going into half-time.

Rhinos put their foot on the accelerator in the second half, which resulted in a penalty conversion from Dannhauser to again take a narrow 9-8 lead.

But their dismal line-outs allowed Varsity to remain in the game.

A controversial penalty and yellow card for flanker Johan Janse van Rensburg handed Varsity an 11-9 lead.

The Rhinos continued to outscrum the home side, with seven against eight, and apply pressure on attack.

But with 15 minutes to go, another dodgy yellow card to flyhalf Victor Campher helped Varsity extend their lead to 14-9.

Varsity then dotted down under the poles to take a 21-9 lead with five minutes to go.

Rhinos had the final say, when Trevor Dlodlo scored from a driving line-out to end the game at 21-14.

Disgusting

In the Rhinos 2 game, Rhinos went down 69-12 in a game in which Rhinos looked completely uninterested to play and just went through the motions.

Flyhalf Michael Bodenstein dotted down and converted his try in the first half to give Rhinos 7 points.

Once again Rhinos had the last say, with Sura Mthembu crossing the whitewash in the last move of the game, to give Rhinos 12 points.

Rhinos 1 and 2 will take on Crusaders on Saturday at Mick Kelly Park, with action getting underway at 2pm.

Locals are urged to come out and back the local teams.