Ikeys pip Villagers in midweek thriller

The Ikey Tigers held on for a narrow 26:25 victory against a fired up Villagers at Brookside on Wednesday evening. 

What on paper was a second seat against bottom of the log match up proved to be a thrilling derby affair as the game went to the wire. 

Nick Holton, playing at inside centre – instead of flyhalf, kicked a last-minute penalty to win the game for his side but Villager's then saw a long-range penalty goal attempt miss its target with virtually the final act of injury-time.

UCT had earlier run into a handy 13-0 lead, thanks to two bits of brilliance by hooker Neil Rautenbach (pictured) – who set up a try and scored one himself, but the home side began clawing their way back into the match to make it 13-10 to the Ikeys at half-time.

The lead changed hands a few times in the second half, but a penalty try – thanks to a powerful Ikeys scrum – kept the visitors in it.

Villager's, still winless in the 2012 Super League, scored what looked like the match-winning try before Holton missed a relatively simple penalty goal at 23-25 down. The selfsame Holton, however, held his nerve when presented with an even easier penalty in the final act of regulation time.

Quite a bit of injury-time was played, as the hosts threw everything but the kitchen sink at UCT, and the visitors did well to come away with the victory – this Wednesday-night fixture was always going to be a tricky encounter for the reigning champions.

Ikeys head coach Kevin Foote told varsitycup.co.za afterwards: "It was a brave and gutsy performance from the guys – I'm very proud of them, but also very relieved.

"We had the stress of that promotion/relegation game against UCT earlier this month and have since had to play four league matches in the space of fourteen days. Our current record is better than that of last year, so I'm happy enough with our current standing although there's always room for improvement."

FNB UCT's scorers:
TBC

The UCT team: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Paul Cohen, 13 Tiger Bax, 12 Nick Holton, 11 Nathan Nel, 10 Ross Jones-Davies, 9 Steve Wallace, 8 James Tatham, 7 Brad Bosman, 6 Christopher Roberts, 5 Levi Odendaal, 4 James Kilroe, 3 Chris Heiberg, 2 Neil Rautenbach, 1 Digby Webb.
Replacements: 16 Matt Page, 17 Shane Meier, 18 Rayn Smid, 19 West Mackintosh, 20 Liam Slatem, 21 David Ambunya, 22 Nick Mills.

The WP Super League log:
(Played, won, points – as at April 25)
1. FNB Maties 3, 3, 15
2. FNB UCT 4, 3, 14
3. Hamilton's 3, 2, 13
4. Durbanville-Belville 3, 3, 13
5. Victorians 4, 2, 11
6. SK-Walmers 2, 1, 5
7. False Bay 3, 1, 4
8. Tygerberg 3, 0, 1
9. Villager's 3, 0, 1
10. Belhar 2, 0, 0