SACS go down to Boland Landbou

SACS proved to be their own worst enemies as they went down 37-6 at home to Boland Landbou. SACS showed an admirable willingness to run with the ball and had more than their fair share of possession but made to many elementary errors on the day. Without doing too much hard work the Bolanders were able to feed off SACS's errors and turnovers and accumulate points at regular intervals.

Boland were up ten-nil in no time as SACS gifted them two soft tries. A poor clearance by SACS saw Boland set up two drives for the line. They were successful with the second one and No.8 Nian Berg crashed over to score. Soon after the kick-off SACS turned the ball over out wide on the left. From the ensuing ruck Boland's livewire scrumhalf Louis de Jager broke blind and ran 40-metres before feeding right-wing Carel Mouton, who scored the first of his three tries on the day.

Landbou have a good all-round team this year but with their heavy pack are lethal when in the opposition 22m-area. SACS were guilty of playing to much rugby in their own half and paid the price again soon after. A ball that should have been cleared was shuffled across the SACS tryline and turned-over. Boland showed nice hand speed on the blindside and Mouton was in for his second.

SACS flyhalf Tim Carr converted two long-range penalties in the half while Boland flyhalf Gerhard Swart missed all three conversions. Just on half-time though SACS had centre Ishmat Fakier carded by referee Gareth Lloyd-Jones for a spear tackle. Swart was on target from right in front and Boland led 18-6 at the interval.

Carr missed a penalty early on in the second half but SACS then let Boland in for another soft score. SACS lost a lineout in their own half but won the ball back in the ensuing ruck. Carr's clearance kick was charged down though and from the five-metre scrum that followed Gerhard Swart waltzed over on the right-hand side. The next try was Boland's best and again came from a SACS lineout. SACS had been applying pressure in the Boland 22m-area but lost two vital lineout balls in succession. From the second turnover Boland took the ball wide and their fullback Bernie Hugo burst clear. Hugo outpaced the cover before switching with left-wing Jean du Plessis who ran in a brilliant score.

SACS never gave up trying and came close a couple of occasion to scoring a consolation try. Experienced campaigners Dean Holland and Rodney Mthi, along with the fiery Dugald Robertson trying unsuccessfully to spark a late revival. It wasn't to be though and Boland finished off their scoring by stealing a rather innocuous cross-kick from under the nose of the SACS defenders. Carel Mouton completing a well deserved hat-trick.

Scorers:

Tries: Carel Mouton 3, Jean du Plessis, Nian Berg. Gerhard Swart

Conversions: Swart 2

Penalty: Swart

For SACS:

Penalties: Tim Carr 2

By Graeme Wepener of SACS