Ikey Tigers disappoint vs Victorians

The Ikey Tigers were again their own worst enemies and followed up their good start against Durbell, with a sloppy performance against Victorians. UCT lost 20:39 and by 2 tries to 5 to the Stellenbosch side on Wednesday night.

The Ikeys started well and found themselves deep in the Vics 22 just seconds after they had secured the kick-off in their own half. But it was Vics who struck first, after some good interplay and UCT were down 0:7 after not even 10 minutes.

The home team didn’t find their rhythm, errors at the breakdown and knock-ons made them lose momentum over and over – something that wouldn’t change during the course of the game. Matt Rosslee put the Tigers on the board with a well struck penalty to make it 3:7, Vics responded with a 3 pointer to go further ahead 3:10.

UCT then added a converted try when Dylan Rogers  barged over to finish a rare pressure phase of multiple phases and it looked like the teams would go into halftime with a 10:10 draw. But the Ikey Tigers, after securing a line-out in their on 22, added to their array of errors and Vics intercepted just before the halft-time whistle to make it 10:17.

John Dobson’s team started the second half with more purpose and Dave Edgar had a great break, but as so many other times a 50/50 pass was thrown and possession lost. It seemed as if Vics just tried that little bit harder, so luck was on their side when they created opportunities after UCT mistakes and they ran in another try. 

UCT now with their backs to the wall needed tries desperately and kicked a penalty to touch – a three pointer was all they could get out of their time in the Vics 22 though. After the re-start was well secured and driven forward by the UCT pack, the Tigers attacked wide, deep in their own half and lost the ball forward. Vics then managed to attack the blind-side off the scrum they had been awarded and sneaked in another 7 pointer.

The home side was still without any rhythm when plenty of subs were called onto the park, but that unfortunately didn’t change UCT’s fortune much.  Vics scored try number five and all UCT could offer in return was a great individual effort by replacement Tim Whitehead, who pushed through a grubber and won the footrace to dot it down.

Therlow Pietersen who added some spark to the UCT attack was voted man of the match.

20:39 was the final score. UCT have now produced the best and the worst of their capabilities within only 4 days and need to bounce back this weekend when they take on old rivals Villagers on Saturday.

UCT’s U20 A1s came out tops in a tight encounter with Junior Vics, beating the visitors 23:17. Click here for the matchreport

UCT Eagles also beat their Victorians rivals 17:13, UCT 3rds, the Ish Dramat XV lost narrowly by 5:7.

Ikey Tigers Scorers:
Tries: Rogers, Whitehead
Kicks: Rosslee, Pietersen

UCT Ikey Tigers:

1. Ash Wells, 2. Mark ‘Goose’ Goosen, 3. Dylan ‘D Guy’ Rogers, 4. Michael Passaportis, 5. Bodo ‘The Door’ Sieber (c), 6. Koselo ‘Predator’ Moyiake 7.  Nick Fenton Wells  8. Dayne Galley, 9. Kyle Wickins, 10. Matt Rosslee, 11. Marvin Christians, 12. Pieter Engelbrecht, 13. Dave Edgar  14. Marcello Sampson, 15. Therlow Pietersen

Reserves: 16.  Dane ‘Danger’ Jans 17. Vakai ‘Fish’ Hove 18. Don Armand, 19. Craig Kleu, 20. JP Robert, 21. Tim ‘Toolman’ Whitehead, 22. Dave Clayton

All Results: