False Bay Rugby Football Club

False Bay certainly made amends for their below par showing against Maties in the first round of the SLA with a powerful display in their return match at Stellenbosch last Saturday. The final score was 18-33 (half time 11-14), which was in no way a fair reflection on proceedings.

Maties are a formidable foe no matter the venue and Coetzenburg can be a cold and desolate place at the best of times. With the False Bay Third Team recording their first away victory over Stellenbosch in living memory, scoring 4 tries to nil and the Second XV banking a five league point victory, the scene was set for a contest of note.  

Stellenbosch raced to a 14-3 lead after the Bay found themselves on the receiving end of 5 quick fire penalties, on which the Maties capitalised and scored two tries through lock Bertu van der Westhuizen and centre Wessel Coetzee. Bay flyhalf Stuart Pattison had opened the visitors account with a penalty conversion.

The scores seemed to further galvanize a focused and determined False Bay with the Constantia outfit dominating the second quarter of the contest. Here young bull Ryan Olivier shone with his explosive running, but was unfortunately stretchered off the park with a knee injury.

With territorial dominance, the Bay pressured the Maties and hooker Hugo Lambrecht went over in the corner for an unconverted try, numerous pairs of hands touching the ball with the final pass from prop Frankie Charlie rounding a move of high quality.

The Bay continued their dominance and Pattison narrowed the gap to just three points with a penalty.

With their one-sided loss against a venomous Maties team at Constantia in May as motivation, False Bay sniffed an upset and with inspirational captain Justin van Winkel at the fore, they took the challenge to the students.

False Bay had two tries in the third quarter disallowed, one by fullback Damien Janse van Rensburg, was deemed to have created through obstructive running and the reason for second by standout wing Gafhoor Luckhan, was unclear.

Exciting wing Danie Roux entered the fray, replacing cousin Jaco, and from the outset he had the maroon-shirted opposition on their toes with his strong counter running.

By now the Maties had scored twice more and the score was 28-11, frustrating for the visitors as they seemed to be on the receiving end of some perplexing officiating. The final 15 minutes belonged to the Bay, with scrumhalf Ridhaa Damon keeping the fire in the hearts of his teammates burning fiercely with his sniping runs and titanic tackling. He scored a try from one of these runs, which replacement flyhalf Meyrick Ward converted.

The score was 28-18 and the Bay sniffed victory.

With minutes to go, the Constantia pack set up a juggernaut rolling maul, which was illegally collapsed by flank Chase Minnaar, earning him a well-deserved sin bin. No further retribution was exacted although a penalty try would not have been remiss as a 5 point score was imminent before the contravention.

Moments later wing Danie Roux was pole axed by a “no arms tackle”. This was reported by the assistant referee but his intervention was overruled and a penalty was awarded to the home side instead. The score could so easily have been 28-25 at that stage and nothing would have stopped the Bay boys then.

With the rub of the green going against them and time running out, the Bay attempted to counter attack from deep in their own quarter to reduce the points difference to within 7 points and bank a bonus point. The stakes were high and the Bay paid for a spilled ball with a try which gave the Maties a flattering 33-18 scoreline.

Stellenbosch scorers: Tries by van der Westhuizen, Coetzee, Jarryn Buys, Johan Herbst and Lampies Lambrecht. Dean Grant converted 4.

False Bay: Tries by Lambrechts and Damon. Ward converted one and Pattison converted two penalties.

False Bay host SLA newcomers, Belhar on Saturday. Kickoff is at 4 pm and a big screen will be erected for the showing of the Springbok versus All Blacks test.