BAY MAKE AMENDS WITH FINE 'VICSTORY'
False Bay staged a come-from-behind rally to turn the tables on Victorians on Wednesday night. The final score was 38-20 after Vics led 17-16 at the break.
Victorians are a team who pride themselves on strong finishes to their matches. They have managed to come from behind to beat Villager and Durbell and only just lost to Hamiltons (44-40), and that is only just their second round rallies.
False Bay’s first half, actually first half hour of play bordered on abysmal. The opening stanza was littered with mistakes and some play which lacked good judgment, they found themselves down 17-6 and with everything to play for. Their previous two matches were losses to the Universities, firstly UCT and then a smack from Maties, and one would have been excused if one thought the season was just too long for the Constantia outfit.
But self-pride prevailed and the team settled down to playing their pattern, taking complete control of the match in the second half.
The pack was superb in the scrums, especially the two sets of front rows, Herbie Mayosi, Frankie Charlie, SP Blakely, Marc Farr, Vlam van Vuuren and Hugo Lambrecht. They were totally dominant in this phase, deservedly earning a penalty try for their cohesive efforts.
The Bay scored four tries, securing the bonus point and in the process a guaranteed Top 4 position in their first season back in the Super League A.
The Bay travelling support may have been a bit concerned by their teams first half performance. Conceding too many penalties and also two easy tries from mauls set up by penalty kicks for touch, the Bay looked as if they were facing yet another Stellenbosch revenge performance, having faced the wrath of the Unversity’s first choice ten days earlier.
Their team got their act together, returning to basics and putting in some big hits, which had the students on the back foot, a good place to have them because they’re instinctive front-foot players.
With clever play by Demetri Catrakilis in keeping the pressure on Vics, the Bay played smarter rugby and took the chances given to them. Catrakilis enjoyed a good tussle with Vics flyhalf Grant, taking honours in the contest.
Eighthman Whalied Heyns and flank Justin van Winkel put in some big tackles with the latter turning ball over throughout the match.
Wing Jaco Roux scored a brace of tries, one resulting from pressure on the Vics team, and then an intercept effort, running the length of the pitch, to get the fifth league point. It was a superb individual brilliance and well deserved. Big Mac Geleba had a tremendous impact on the game when introduced.
This trip to Coetzenburg did a lot to bury the pain of the heavy loss to Maties. This was a performance of character and then later class. Vics are no pushover and have rallied a late charge up the SLA.
False Bay have one more dragon to slay, NNK, who have been relegated but are looking to exit the top flight with a bang.
This match takes place at Parow on Saturday 4 September.
