Border win in breathtaking finish

Border produced a breathtaking finish to the opening day of the 2009 Craven Week, scoring a spectacular try in the final play to beat the Valke 15-10 in front of their home crowd in the last game on Day 1.

It was a fitting finale to the exciting first day of the latest edition of the youth week, which produced some thrilling rugby.

Fullback Olunje Gwampi streaked away to score in the corner after Border swung the ball wide from inside their own half in the last movement of the game. The crowd at the Border Rugby Union Stadium were in raptures at the final whistle as a draw seemed the likely outcome.

The game sprung to life in the last ten minutes after a tight and tense opening hour.

Neither team looked to take many risks from the outset, and the Valke kicked unconvincingly, despite the strong wind at their backs.

Nevertheless, it was the Valke who drew first blood in the 33rd minute, Ruan Lerm crashing over to make the score 5-0 going into halftime.

Border wouldn't have been too dipleased with the scoreline after having struggled against the Eastern Cape breeze.

The match remained cagey and needed someone to produce something special. It was the imposing figure of Border front-row forward Allan Dell who duly obliged. The 114kg player from Queen's College burst through a tackle and showed pace and handling that belied his size to feed lanky lock forward Louis Nell, who acrobatically dived over to score.

This score seemed to spark the match into life and pacey wing Khantu Mfenyana was next to score for the home team in the 63rd minute after a breakaway from their own half.

But the Valke weren't finished yet, scoring a well-worked try through wing Otavio Fortuin to level the scores at 10-all with only three minutes remaining.

After the restart it looked as if the Valke were more likely to score as they pushed towards the Border try line. But a turnover allowed centre Andile Jho to crack on the pace down the left hand touchline. He popped a perfectly weighted pass to Gwampi, who sped away to score the match winning try as the hooter sounded.

Scorers:

For Border:
Tries: Nell, Mfenyana, Gwampi

For Valke:
Tries: Lerm, Fortuin

Border: 15 Olunje Gwampi (Dale), 14 Kantu Mfenyana (Queen's), 13 Aziyena Mandaba (Queen's), 12 Andile Jho (Dale), 11 Leon Makiwane (Queen's), 10 Dale Sabbagh (Selborne), 9 Matthew King (Selborne), 8 Matthew Williams (Selborne), 7 Chris Cloete (Selborne), 6 Roelof Roodt (Hangklip), 5 Chay Oberholzer (Queen's), 4 Louis Nell (Grens), 3 Allan Dell (Queen's), 2 Grant Hartley (Queen's) (captain), 1 Soso September (Selborne), 16 Lifa Ghana (Dale), 17 Luvuyo Kama (Dale), 18 Mahdi Elabor (Stirling), 19 Roche Vorster (Selborne), 20 Bangi Kobese (Dale), 21 Shane Swart (Stirling), 22 Ofenze Boloko (Selborne)

Valke: 15 Ulrich van Schalkwyk (EG Jansen), 14 Otavio Fortuin (Hans Moore), 13 Morné Stassen (EG Jansen), 12 Oupa Potsane (General Smuts), 11 Ryan Wells (Kempton Park), 10 Michael Holtzhausen (EG Jansen), 9 Ryan Louwrens (Kempton Park), 8 Ruan Lerm (EG Jansen), 7 Weza Matomane (Transvalia), 6 Morne Erasmus (EG Jansen), 5 Armand Gouws (HTS Vereeniging), 4 Pieter Mathee (EG Jansen), 3 Dewald Nel (EG Jansen), 2 Michale Philipson (EG Jansen), 1 Johannes van Deventer (Transvalia), 16 Sinduso Petrus (Voortrekker), 17 Divan Botha (EG Jansen), 18 Stefan de Witt (Transvalia), 19 Clyde Uren (Volsksrust), 20 Wian Lamprecht (Kempton Park), 21 Thulani Dube (General Smuts), 22 Katlego More (Hans Moore)

Date: Monday, July 13
Venue: Border Rugby Union Stadium, East London
Kick-off: 15.30 (13.30 GMT)
Referee: Francois Veldsman

By Tim Human