Tigers maul Kraaifontein

Graham ‘Snoopy’ Knoop on the charge for UCT Eagles

All UCT teams demolished their Kraaifontein counterparts in scores that unfortunately for the homes sides, seemed more like warm up game scores to the ICC Champions trophy.  (Photo Peter van As)

In the 1st XV match, the home team’s move to push for uncontested scrums early in the second half was worth at least 30 points, because they would not have had much possession with their forwards in reverse, but UCT still managed to rack up 61:16 points in a scrappy affair.

It was the last match of the season for the sorry Kraainfontein outfit and also their last match of SLA rugby in a while – but it was by no means an easy fixture and probably one of the more frustrating games the UCT team has played.

The ref also didn’t help, trying to keep the damage low in front of the Kraaifontein home crowd and was very trigger happy with penalties against the Ikeys and was not afraid to dish out a yellow card against UCT for not releasing the ball in an attacking ruck on the half way line.

The star of the previous weeks, 8th man Sam Peter unfortunatley is out injured with a fractured cheekbone, but this opened up an opportunity for Eagles flank Snakes Dunywa who played a very good debut match. Utility back Peter Haw is also back from injury and checked in for some game time.

UCT started the game a bit wobbly so it was up to the ref and Kraaifontein’s very own Francois Steyn who happily signalled for posts from within his own half, to make sure the home side went into an early 6:0 lead. The Ikeys then found a bit of rythm and started scoring tries, with Matt Rosslee dotting down first. Matt Page finished off a move with three men ouside him, following a strong run by Dave Edgar.

It was a scrappy affair, with Kraaifontein looking to spoil the ball and UCT helping them in that department with plenty of knock-ons of their own. Therlow Pietersen was again topping the scorer list with three tries to his name and speedster Marcello Sampson was dangerous with the ball in hand and also crossed the line.

UCT started the second half with more assertiveness and scored quickly, but then Kraaifontein’s tighthead prop had to come off and couldn’t be replaced, even though the home side’s second, third and U20 team all had fielded front rows earlier. Uncontested scrums was the ruling which levelled the game severely, as UCT who had piled on the pressure in the scrums and won several tightheads now had to gift the “Crows” the ball and momentum.

Kraaifontein scored a try off a chargedown to up their tally to 16, but UCT kept runnig in points, with Pietersen taking the score into the 60s on full time.

It was a game for the backs to shine and it was Dave Edgar who had an excellent outing with lots of direct running, which earned him the Man of the Match award.

The moment of the match was Kraaifontein replacing their injured tighthead prop with a 19 year old flank of 75kg, even though they had a replacement hooker of a very scrumready tuckbox format warming the bench. The uncontested scrum tactic certainly worked for them and overall, they have to be respected for still putting up a fight – sometimes literally – even though their season was a disaster with +1000 points scored against them in 18 matches.

UCT are now firmly in third place and will play Maties on Friday night on the Green Mile as the season’s grand finale.

Scorers:

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

Replacements: 16 Wes Chetty, 17  Stephen Knoop, 18 Graham Knoop  20, Doug Mallet 21 Peter Haw 22, Nick

UCT vs KRAAIFONTEIN