14man Ikeys go down at Brookside

An early red card for Luzuko Panya for a dangerous tackle saw UCT play with 14 men for almost 70 minutes when they went down 14:16 to Villagers at Brookside last night.

After hard-working flanker Panya was red-carded for a spear tackle, the Ikeys were always playing catch-up rugby. Not that it is much consolation, but to have the game winnable with minutes to go despite the extra work that had to be put in – especially by the forwards who scrummed and worked with a man less shows the guts that is in the team.

Captain on the day Don Armand lead from the front and scored his team’s only try of the night, with flyhalf Matt Rosslee kicking two penalty goals and fullback Marcel Brache slotting a long-range penalty which put his side ahead by 14-13 in the dying minutes.

But Villager’s rallied and forced a penalty to go ahead, before UCT missed two late penalties – much to the home crowd’s delight.

It’s been a tough few weeks for UCT, who – at one stage – were challenging for qualification at the National Club Championships and, also, possibly the WP Super League title.

UCT’s scorers:
Try: Armand
Pens: Rosslee 2, Brache

Ikey Tigers: 15 Marcel Brache, 14 Paul Cohen, 13 Mark Esterhuizen, 12 Adrian Kritzinger, 11 Marcello Sampson, 10 Matt Rosslee (vice-captain), 9 Nic Groom, 8 Yaya Hartzenberg, 7 Jody Burch, 6 Luzuko Panya, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Don Armand (captain), 3 Dylan Rogers , 2 Hanyani Shimange, 1 Ashley Wells.
Replacements: 16 Mark Goosen, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Levi Odendaal, 19 Greg Mallet, 20 Sharief Hendricks , 21 Andre Coetzer, 22. Zubayr Abrahams.