Hamiltons take it at the death – again

Dangerman – Therlow Pietersen kept the Hammies defense guessing.
The UCT Ikey Tigers came out guns blazing against the much vaunted Hamiltons RFC. It was an evenly matched affair on all fronts, with the Ikeys trailing 13:14 at half time and up 22:20 at full-time. It was not meant to be however, as Hamiltons did it again and scored a try in injury time to seal the game 22:27 and with it their league title. (Photo Peter van As)

It was a big day of rugby on the Green Mile, with Western Province U19 playing against their Freestate counterparts. Also both the UCT Eagles and the U20 A1 Trojans are still pushing towards league wins and needed points.

The Ikey Tigers went down 22-27 to an Alshaun Bock try on the “last movement” stroke of full-time – their second gut-wrenching loss to Hamilton’s this season and a result which has handed the 2009 Super League title to the big-spending Men from Green Point.

The home side, disrupted by injuries and various Provincial call-ups, scrapped hard during Saturday’s match and true to character the Ikey Tigers pitched for the big occasion with last week’s disappointment at NNK long forgotten. UCT opened the score with an early penalty, but Hammies struck back with a well worked try. Regular lock Don Armand, playing in the back row on Saturday as a replacement for the injured Nick Fenton-Wells, scored his  try following an excellent run by center Dave Edgar. Rosslee converted and added another penalty, but the visitors had scored their second try so UCT were trailing Hamilton’s 13-14 at half-time.

The second half continued to be a titanic battle with UCT creating more opportunities and Sam Peter almost scoring in the corner. Both teams exchanged penalties and then UCT went ahead in injury-time when flyhalf Matthew Rosslee landed a well-struck drop-goal.

Rosslee’s kick put his team 22-20 up, but the visitors managed to string one more bit of good play together with time running out and Bock finished strongly in the left-hand corner to hand his team the win and their first league title in 76 years.

Rosslee, back at flyhalf after spending some time at inside centre in recent weeks, did not miss a kick at goal – slotting one conversion, four penalty goals and that drop-goal which looked to have sealed a famous win for his team.

The Ikeys forwards played well as a unit, with Don Armand and big hitting Craig Kleu in great form around the park. Tighthead prop Stephen Knoop marked his first team return with some time off the bench.

UCT’s man of the match was again the industrious no8 Sam Peter. The moment of the match for the Ikeys was Matt Rosslee’s penalty that seemed to have sealed the win.

The Ikeys will travel to Kraaifontein next Saturday, where a win will seal their third place in this years Super League. The grand finale of the season will be Maties on the Green Mile on Friday the 25th.

Full photo album online – click here

The UCT Eagles unfortunatley went down to Hammies second team. Check their match day photos

Scorers:
Try: Don Armand
Kicks: 1 Con, 3 Pens, 1 DG – Matt Rosslee

UCT Ikey Tigers
15 Therlow Pieterson, 14 Marcello Sampson , 13 Dave Edgar 12 Sean van Tonder,  11 Dave Clayton, 10 Matthew Rosslee (VC) 9  Stu Commins, 8 Sam Peter, 7 Craig Kleu, 6 Don Armand, 5 Michael Passaportis, 4 Bodo Sieber (captain), 3 Dylan Rogers, 2 Matthew Page, 1 Ashley Wells.

Replacements: 16 Wes Chetty 17 Herbert Mayosie 18 Stephen Knoop, 19 Graham Knoop  20, James Martin 21 Andre Coetzer 22, Freddie Strange

UCT vs HAMILTON