VIDEO: Crucial errors cost Ikeys the win and Taljaard Trophy

The FNB Ikey Tigers fell victim to two late tries as they lost their fifth match of the season to the FNB Madibaz. They are now sitting at seventh place on the Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International log with only two rounds of matches left. Despite the negative result, this was the FNB Ikey Tiger’s biggest accumulation of points in a single match as they went down 46-33 on Monday afternoon.

“We obviously wanted the result, but I have seen an improvement from the players this week. The boys are always learning,” said Hanyani Shimange, head coach of FNB UCT.

When asked about where his team went wrong, he noted that his team had been guilty of committing errors off the ball. “We made a few critical errors off of the ball, and the tries in the last quarter of the game really took the sting out of it for us. They had a defensive scrum, and they broke free and ran all the way,” said Shimange, whose team face FNB UJ in the next round of fixtures.

The FNB Ikey Tigers went into half time in the lead, and were even leading when the teams went into the second strategy break, but they were unable to hang on to their lead. “We didn’t want to just sit back and defend. At the same time, we wanted to play a smart game, because you can’t just go all out in attack when you’re in such a position,” said Shimange.

“We had a few smart kicks, but we didn’t react quickly enough. Like I said, it was just one or two crucial errors that got us in the end,” Shimange concluded.

The FNB Ikey Tigers are set to do battle with FNB UJ on Thursday, the 24th of March at 15:00 at the Cape Town Stadium. Tickets are available for R20. They end their 2016 Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International campaign on Monday, the 28^th of March with a match against FNB Tuks.

Scorers:
FNB IKEY TIGERS:
Nine-point tries: Lihleli Xoli
Seven-point tries: Bradley Janse van Rensburg
Five-point tries: Lihleli Xoli, Gary Porter
Cons: Thomas Bednall (2)
Pens: Thomas Bednall

FNB Madibaz:
Nine-point tries: Ivon-John du Preez
Seven-point tries: Junior Pokomela, Ivon-John du Preez, Stephanus Nieuwoudt
Five-point tries: Henry Brown, Tyler Paul
Cons: Simon Bolze, Thomas Kean (3)

FNB IKEY TIGERS:

15 Joel Smith, 14 Bradley Janse van Rensburg, 13 Justin Heunis, 12 Lihleli Xoli, 11 Nathan Nel, 10 Thomas Bednall, 9 Steven Wallace, 8 Guy Alexander, 7 Mark Prior, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Jade Kriel, 3 David Maasch, 2 Brenton Greaves, 1 Joel Carew

16 Keagan Timm, 17 Msizi Zondi, 18 Olwethu Hans, 19 Sean Paterson, 20 Dylan Tidbury, 21 Rob Anderson, 22 Suwi Chibale, 23 Samuel Theron

FNB Madibaz:

15 Lindelwe Zungu, 14 Ivon-John du Preez, 13 Keanu Vers, 12 Jeremy Ward, 11 Khaya Malotana, 10 Simon Bolze, 9 Sibusiso Ngcokovane, 8 Junior Pokomela, 7 Tyler Paul, 6 Henry Brown, 5 Gerrit Huisamen, 4 Kevin Kaba, 3 Nemo Roelofse, 2 Jean-Pierre Jamieson, 1 Nicolaas Oosthuizen

16 Jedwyn Harty, 17 Marzuk Maarman, 18 Jayson Reinecke, 19 Stephanus Nieuwoudt, 20 Luvo Classen, 21 Thomas Kean, 22 Andile Jho, 23 Xandre Vos

By Wessley Thring