On Monday 27 2017, Rhodes Rugby hosted the University of Fort Hare in their second home match of their inaugural Varsity Shield season. Rhodes were hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 88-8 defeat against the Univerity of the Western Cape the previous week.
On Monday 27 2017, Rhodes Rugby hosted the University of Fort Hare in their second home match of their inaugural Varsity Shield season. Rhodes were hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 88-8 defeat against the Univerity of the Western Cape the previous week.
The match kicked off in near perfect conditions, with cool dry pitch conditions, and good light from the setting sun. UFH would use the wind at there back in the first half to their advantage, as they spent much of the opening quarter inside Rhodes’ half.
UFH opened the scoring early in the half with a try out wide by Sibusiso Sityebi after an attacking scrum in Rhodes’ 22m. Jeandre Christian missed the conversion, meaning that UFH went to a 0-5 lead.
UFH were full of energy throughout the opening quarter, putting a lot of pressure on the Rhodes defensive line, however despite the early slip, Rhodes’ defence remained strong. Rhodes turned their strong defence into a counter attack, which ended in a penalty attempt for the home side, which Michael Steel missed.
Roughly ten minutes before the end of the first half, the frustrations from both sides boiled over resulting in a brawl just inside the UFH 22m. As a result of the dust-up, yellow cards were issued to Zayne Farmers and Nkosinathi Njeje from UFH and Ryan Horne from Rhodes.
On the stroke of halftime, Fort Hare’s temper got the better of them yet again and Zanoxolo Qwele was shown yellow for a high tackle in UFH’s 22m. Rhodes were unable to capitalize on their two man advantage, however, and the half ended Rhodes 0-5 UFH.
Shortly after the second half kicked off, UFH continued to show poor discipline, giving away two quick penalties. Lindokuhle Kenene from UFH wa shown yellow for a dangerous tackle on Steel. Rhodes then took full advantage of a lineout in the UFH half, and Devon Barnard crossed over the line for a try. Steel converted, taking he score to Rhodes 8-5 UFH, as Rhodes took the lead for the first time in the match.
Immediately after the restart, however, UFH was awarded a penalty, which was slotted through the uprights by Christian, resulting in a narrow 8-7 lead for the home side.
Rhodes struck back quickly, however with a penalty of their own a few minutes later through the boot of Horne to extend the lead back to three points. The score now read Rhodes 10-7 UFH.
UFH could not be kept down, however, and immediately struck back with a try for replacement prop, Bulelani Mdodona. Christian converted to take the score to Rhodes 10-15 UFH, with 25 minutes left in the match.
Rhodes continued to put pressure on the visitors throughout the second half, creating several scoring opportunities. The pressure from the experienced UFH defence, however, forced errors in the young Rhodes attack, and they failed to convert their attacking pressure into points.
After spending the majority of the second half inside UFH territory, Rhodes found themselves isolated inside their own 22m, giving away a penalty which Christian made no mistake in converting.
Immediately after the restart, UFH kicked the ball deep into Rhodes’ half. Rhodes failed to clean up and Farmers went over the line after a miss field from Rhodes. Christian converted yet again, and the score went to Rhodes 10-25 UFH.
Cracks continued to show in the Rhodes defence, as a clever cross kick and some quality stepping put Boetie Bowers over the line for UFH. Christian missed the wide conversion, which left the score Rhodes 10-30 UFH.
After some frenetic play, the ball eventually found its way into touch on the stroke of 80 minutes, and the final whistle blew. The final score read Rhodes 10-30 UFH.
In an interview with Grocott’s Mail Sports after the match, Rhodes head coach, Qondakele Sompondo, expressed his disappointment with yet another loss after his team played so well. “I think the boys played well, and it’s sad that at the end of the game you don’t get the results that you wanted.”
Sompondo added, “the second half of the first half was really good”. “The guys were putting up pressure on Fort Hare, and those yellow cards were as a result of that,” Sompondo said.
Rhodes will now be given a bye week in preparation for their final home match of the season against old rivals, Walter Sisulu University on Monday, 13 March. Sompondo described how he intends to prepare for this derby, “The beauty about it is that we have 14 days to prepare for this one,” Sompondo said, adding,” we will maximizer 12 of those 14 days and work really hard.”
Sompondo asked the university supporters not to lose hope in Rhodes Rugby. “I am gutted for them, and I am also gutted as a coach that continuously we lead them into believing that their team is going to get results and we don’t quite do it,” Sompondo said.
“We have two more games to go and we will get that required results, they will get better,” Sompondo insisted as he hopes to keep the support for the last home match of the season.
Visit Grocott’s Mail Sports Facebook page for the full interview with Sompondo, as well as an interview with Rhodes captain Jono Braans.
Scorers
Rhodes:
Tries: Devon Barnard
Conversions: Michael Steel
Penalties: Ryan Horne
Yellow cards: Ryan Horne
UFH:
Tries: Nkosinathi Njeje, Bulelani Mdodona, Zayne Farmers, Boetie Bowers.
Conversions: Jeandre Christian x2
Penalties: Jeandre Christian x2
Yellow cards: Zayne Farmers, Nkosinathi Njeje, Zanoxolo Qwele, Lindokuhle Kenene
