Roodepoort leave it too late

11-Mar-2019

Roodepoort’s Gold Cup campaign hit a speed bump at Ruimsig on Saturday when they went down 52-31 to former champions Rustenburg Impala, despite a gallant fight-back. ‘Poorte scored three converted tries in the last ten minutes to give the score-line some respectability, with two of the tries scored by impact players Spyker Esterhuizen and Migael du Plessis.

The match ended when prop Zander Schlemmer crashed over the Impala goal-line at full time to score Roodepoort’s fourth try. Scrumhalf Brandan Rieck was their standout player despite the fact that his tight-five were under huge pressure for the first hour.

Impala dominated the set pieces and flyhalf Siya Masuku dictated proceedings from the pivotal position. Fullback Lux Ntsepe stepped a few opponents, particularly early on in the match, whilst Stokkies Hanekom showed his class throughout.

*Roodepoort will face Springs at Emirates Airline Park in a curtain raiser for the big clash between the Lions and the Rebels this coming Saturday.

Lions grind out big win

23-Mar-2019

The Emirates Lions handed the Sunwolves another blow as they romped to a 37-24 win in Singapore on Saturday. It was confirmed this week that the Sunwolves will drop out of Vodacom Super Rugby in 2020.

Hooker Malcolm Marx scored a first-half brace as the Lions led 12-7 at the break, while Nic Groom, Elton Jantjies, Lionel Mapoe and Hacjivah Dayimani all crossed in the second half.

The home side were first to score but their lead was short-lived. Less than 10 minutes later Marx crashed over from close range and his Springbok team mate Jantjies added the extras to level the scores at 7-7.

It was Marx again that put the Lions in front on 35 minutes, flopping over from the back of a driving lineout maul but this time Jantjies could not convert from out wide. Sunwolves were first on the score sheet immediately after the break with a Hayden Parker penalty. The Lions added to their try count on 50 minutes when scrumhalf Groom nipped around the side of a maul, sold a dummy and ghosted through the Sunwolves’ defence unopposed. Lions centre Mapoe got on the end of some slick handling after a clean line-break in the middle of the park for his side’s fifth try as the game entered the final quarter.

The Sunwolves showed some spirit and a try under the posts from Vosayaco kept their chances alive at 17-29. Jantjies steadied the ship for the Lions with a penalty, before replacement Dayimani collected a neat chip to take the game out of sight with less than five minutes to play.