SACS battle to beat HTS Bellville
Match Report
In a match played in cold and blustery conditions SACS managed to defeat their hosts HTS Bellville, 15-8. The game was punctuated by penalties as both sides battled to come to terms with the referee's interpretation of the tackle ball.
SACS started well and were full value for their early lead. Centre Liam Slatem chipped over the defence and re-gathered before offloading to left-wing Dean Holland to score. SACS continued to apply good pressure and used well-weighted grubbers and chips to good effect. The kicks created a couple of good chances and if they had finished them off SACS could have had the game wrapped up in the first half.
Instead they conceded a soft try when an errant pass was scooped up by HTS Bellville flyhalf Joline van den Berg, who ran 50 metres to score.
SACS then got on the wrong side of the referee and conceded seven unanswered penalties in the latter stages of the first half. HTS Bellville centre Rowan Minords converted one to give HTS Bellville a slender 8-7 lead at the interval.
Both teams made too many mistakes and conceded too many penalties in the second half for the game to really get going.
SACS flyhalf Tim Carr converted a penalty midway through the second half to secure SACS the lead. Carr had two other opportunities to make the match secure for SACS but missed both. HTS Bellville were unable to create any good scoring opportunities.
Playing with the wind SACS began to kick for field position late in the half and were able to score from a line-out drive. Livewire No.8 Sean Binedell, the man-of-the-match, scoring a well deserved try. SACS finished strongly and drove another line-out over the line only for the ball to spill forward inches from the surface.
The SACS 1st XV have now won four games in a row and can look forward to the visit of Bishops on Saturday with confidence.
Scorers:
For HTS Bellville:
Try: Joline van den Berg
Pen: Rowan Minords
For SACS:
Tries: Dean Holland, Sean Binedell
Con: Tim Carr
Pen: Carr
By Graeme Wepener