Forward Momentum for the Tigers

On Friday night the Ikey Tigers pulled off a stunning 40-5 victory against Tygerberg on the Green Mile, solidifying the venues status as a fortress yet to be overcome in the WP Super League.

The Ikeys were dominant in the first half, with three converted tries to Tygerberg’s lack of scoring entirely. Most notable was a penalty try awarded to the Ikeys in the second quarter when a Tygerberg player broke off a push-over scrum early. Fly-half Ross Jones-Davies was as reliable as ever and converted all three, leaving the scoreboard at 21-0 at the half-time break.

The forwards continued to show immense strength in the second half, first with an unconverted corner try by Brad Bosman, and then with a powerful maul cruising over the whitewash. This left the score-line at 33-0. Tygerberg got their first, and only, points on the board with an unconverted try in the third quarter, but the Ikeys replied shortly after when Tom Bednall stormed across the line for his second try of the night. Thus, the full time scoreboard read 40-5, revealing a much worked-for win for the boys.

After the game, 1^st XV coach JJ Gagiano spoke of continuity, saying “The boys took the lessons from the previous week and worked hard during the week to fix them and then implemented them in the match”. In particular, he mentioned stand-out performances by Deacon Chowles, Tino Zakeyo, Tom Bednall and Dylan Sage.

Commenting on this time last year, when the Ikeys suffered a shock 3-5 loss to Tygerberg, Gagiano said, “Many of the players played last year in that game. The guys are a year older, a year more experienced and they have learnt from that loss to build and become better players and people.”

This forward momentum is likely to be to their advantage during the final two games of the WP Super League season, against Helderberg and SK Walmers, where the team will look to finish off the season on a high.

Scorers:

Tries: Tom Bednall x2, Liam Slatem, Brad Bosman, Derek Asbun.

Kicks: Ross Jones-Davies x 4, Andre Coetzer.

Ikey Tigers team vs Tygerberg

1. Joel Carew, 2. Neil Rautenbach, 3. Deacon Chowles 4. Jade Kriel, 5. Brad Bosman, 6. Derek Asbun, 7. Tino Zakeyo, 8. Vincent Jobo, 9. Liam Slatem, 10. Ross Jones-Davies, 11. Luke Bax, 12. Andre Coetzer, 13. Dylan Sage, 14. Richard Stewart, 15. Tom Bednall,

Reserves:
16. Robin Murray, 17. David Maarsh, 18. Keegan Ehret, 19. Chris Roberts, 20. Ryan Dugmore, 21. Paul Henry, 22. Paul Cohen.

Written by Megan Kinnaird