Tigers Move to Top of the Log

The Ikey Tigers pushed out a massive performance against Hamiltons on Wednesday, beating them 29-24 and climbing into first place on the WP Super League log.

The students had a dominant first-half, and were already 14-0 up 20 minutes into the game. The Ikeys took advantage of being a man-up, after the Hamiltons were punished for repeated infringements. While the Sea Point-side managed to grab a single try, by half time UCT were leading 21-5, and looking confident.

With renewed energy, the Hamiltons made their mark in the second half, putting up a physical and spirited effort against the Tigers. However, despite the surge, UCT stood their ground and the full time score lay at 29-24 with a valuable bonus point in the bag.

UCT’s Ross Jones-Davies was on hand to talk about the match, and spoke about his experience of the win. In reference to why he believes his side were so dominant, he said “We didn't let them get any go-forward ball, matched up them physically up front, and attacked them at the breakdown.”

He added “This enabled us to create one or two one on ones out-wide, and with our elusive backs, we managed to score a couple of good tries.”

Despite the success of the game, he raised areas for improvement “We should have had more points considering the amount of line breaks we had. We also gave away too many penalties and that will be a focus for us moving forward,” he said.

Much like in their previous game against Belhar, Jones-Davies praised the return and impact of Dylan Sage, who was in Australia playing for Super Rugby team Western Force. Similarly, he said “Guy Schwikkard was solid as ever in midfield, our forwards were excellent as usual, and Levi Odendaal and Mike Botha were stand-outs.” Odendaal who skippered the Ikeys in 2013 is back from a stint in Portugal and adds further experience to the Ikeys right forwards who have had a powerful season. 

As humble as ever, Jones Davies, the Ikeys kicker concluded “It’s always nice to be top of the log, but we need to make sure we take it game by game.”

And that starts with their next match against Southern Suburbs rivals False Bay this Saturday. False Bay are lying in fourth place and are challenging opponents.

It is a great derby at home on the Green Mile and an opportunity to experience the new facilities, named the Neville Isdell Rugby center that has been in use for only a few days.  

It features new, state of the art change rooms and an exciting and visually spectacular, interactive Ikeys timeline starting in the present and going way back over 130 years of running rugby to the very first side to don the blue and white stripes in 1882. 

See you on Saturday at the Green Mile to watch the Ikeys teams in action!