Plucky 'Bosch make Landbou sweat
A wonderful display of committed rugby saw Rondebosch almost pull off what would have been a well-merited win against Boland Landbou out at Windmeul on Saturday. The Farmers, however, eventually did just enough to run out 34-24 winners after leading 12-7 at the break.
After the teams had taken the field in bright sunshine, it was the visitors who enjoyed the better of the early stages, only for a shot at goal to go astray and a dropped pass to cost them 30 metres of valuable territory.
Landbou weathered the early onslaught and had run up a 9-0 lead by the quarter-hour mark, the first from flyhalf Heinrich Bühr, the other two - one from inside his own half - by Tian Nel, who took the field in place of full-back and captain Faffa Botha both when the latter was receiving lengthy treatment for a cut to his forehead and later when he was substituted. On the field Nel slotted in at flyhalf with starting pivot Bühr simply reverting to the fullback position he filled until three weeks ago.
Some powerful driving by the Boland pack saw them progress to 20 metres short of the Rondebosch try-line only for them to concede a penalty for not releasing the ball. Next it was the visitors' turn to rue an unforced error, a forward pass, when a two-man overlap had its sights set on the tryline. Shortly afterwards lanky centre Alex Mather put in a 40-metre midfield break, which also came to nothing because of a forward pass in the following phase, before Bühr relieved the mounting pressure with a great raking kick.
Just two minutes before the break 'Bosch finally broke through to score the first try. A great solo effort saw mercurial No.8 Levi Calthorpe catch the entire defence napping when he broke on the blindside from a scrum 30 metres out to dot down untouched under the crossbar. Flyhalf Tyren Lee reduced Landbou's lead to 9-7, only for Bühr to make it 12-7 with the final kick of the first period after several Bosch players were trapped off-side after the ensuing kick-off.
The home team moved up a gear at the restart and a relentless multi-phase build-up resulted in right wing Polla Theunissen scoring in the corner (17-7). Back came the Canigou Carnivores with a vengeance and Lee needed no invitation to make the score 17-10 after the Farmers were blown up for entering a ruck from the side.
The stranglehold the Bosch backs were putting on their Landbou counterparts finally bore fruit when a perfectly-weighted grubber by outside centre and captain Tim Hillock put them close to their opponents' line midway through the half. The ruck ball was quickly shifted out to the left where wing Alaric Hobbs ducked under a despairing tackle to score in the corner. Lee accepted the chance to level matters at 17-17.
However, these men of the land are nothing if not determined and returning lock Nicolas Loubser lead a mighty surge which took play to within a few metres of the tryline. From a scrum Nel, by now on in a permanent capacity, crashed over for a try he himself goaled (24-17 with eleven minutes left).
The Bosch were left to rue another knock-on in a promising position before the hosts' hooker Arno van Wyk, who had a rather subdued match, won turnover ball from which scrumhalf Sheldon Castle chipped into the 22 metre area. Outside centre Keagon Gordon gratefully took advantage of a hesitant defence to snatch the bouncing ball and run round under the cross-bar. Nel's conversion plus a penalty put his side ahead 34-17 going into the last minute.
Needless to say, the city slickers were not finished yet and, in true never-say-die spirit, Lee took a quick tap penalty near the Boland line to sneak over undetected. His conversion prompted the final whistle at 34-24.
The hosts must be thanking their lucky stars that they have a bench player of Nel's capabilities and that Bühr, another Grade 11 youngster, is as comfortable at No.15 as he is at No.10. There were occasions when the defence round the scrums looked a bit vulnerable.
Ultimately, though, Landbou just seemed a bit off-colour in this outing, while Rondebosch, whose outstanding full back Nic le Roux was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury during the week, gave arguably their best showing of 2012.
The Landbou coaches Faffa Coetzee and Pottie Potgieter were lavish in their praise for the southern suburbs side, whom they rated as the best balanced combination they had faced to date, with loosehead Matt Marais being singled out for his Trojan contribution. The backline showed plenty of enterprise too, with scrumhalf Luke Houba celebrating his return from injury with a crackerjack performance.
In summary, a beautiful day jampacked with exhilarating schoolboy rugby played throughout in an exemplary spirit. Hopefully everyone will remember this before they turn to trivial matters like the scores!
Other scores:
Under-14A: Boland Landbou won 26-0
Under-14B: Boland Landbou won 15-7
Under-14C: Rondebosch won 24-15
Under-14D: Rondebosch won 42-5
Under-15A: Boland Landbou won 9-6
Under-15B: Boland Landbou won 33-8
Under-15C: Boland Landbou won 8-0
Under-15D: Boland Landbou won 36-5
Under-16A: Boland Landbou won 14-10
Under-16B: Boland Landbou won 17-7
Under-16C: Rondebosch won 7-3
Under-16D: Rondebosch won 12-0
Under-19B: Boland Landbou won 18-7
Under-19C: Boland Landbou won 21-15
Under-19D: Boland Landbou won 15-5
Under-19E: Rondebosch won 12-10
Under-19F: Rondebosch won 17-7
Under-19G: Boland Landbou won 5-0
By Tony Stoops