The Strand in full beauty produced a perfect setting for an emphatic 78 – 7 bonus point win for Hammies -“Seccies” in their away game against Helderberg RFC 2nd team.
From the outset we played solid constructive rugby and our forwards were once again in very good form, creating phases for our running backs to ignite! Leading 31 – 0 at the break we completely dominated in the second half in yet another shortened 30 minutes per half match.
A welcome return it was for the Hammies legend, Tian Fick (lock), after a year’s absence due to a serious knee injury and he showed some glimpses of what he can add to the game in very good debut for the season. His appearance seemed to work wonders for his lock partner Sphephelo “Blackie” Buthelezi who had a terrific game with a number of strong breaks and some fantastic off-loads that lead to four of the 12 tries scored by Hammies. Amongst the backs, Craig Pheiffer (wing) was outstanding with his powerful runs and great passing / offloads that also lead to another 4 tries and he got a deserved try for himself with a great backline move that started in our own 22 for him to score in the left corner.
Reggie Boonzaaier (fullback) opened the scoring with well worked blind side break by Craig Pheiffer that off –loaded to his inside for the try. Bantu Mene (prop) had everyone on their feet after he broke blind side, put in a terrific 40 meter run to score a memorable try with the opposition defence trying to hang on. The third try was once again orchestrated by Craig Pheiffer that lead to several attacking phases before a neat backline move got Angelo Nelson (wing) to score in the right corner. Our fourth try was once again another strong run by Craig Pheiffer that saw good interchanging passing between forwards and backs before Gino Lupini (centre) put through a grubber kick for his fellow centre partner Chad Moolman to score his first of two tries. On the stroke of halftime, Blackie Buthelezi broke away from a ruck and offloaded to the hardworking Ross Beckett (flank) to score his first try of the season.
The second half started where the first half ended with a quality break by Blackie Buthelezi, some great hands and offloads for Gino Lupini (centre) to score his first try of the season. Skipper, Paddy Holman (eightman) got the next try after great interchanging play by the loose-forwards. After 10 minutes in the second half the Coaches started bring on the impact players and almost immediately Emil Krugmann (flank) scored after another Craig Pheiffer break down the left and he passed to his inside for the score. Five minutes later Craig Pheiffer (wing) scored his deserved try that was followed by Chad Moolman’s (centre) second try after some quality interchanging play by the backs. Emil Krugmann got his second after a quick tap penalty from five metres out and another impact player, Ryan Johnson (wing) got the 12 try with a fantastic solo run from a backline move deep in our 22 to break a couple of passes and the outsprint the opposition defence to score in the left corner. By the way, flyhalf – Lohan Lubbe added 9 x conversions and has now scored 117 points from his and Hammies -“Seccies” eight league matches. A personal average of 14.6 points per game thus far for the season!
After eight (8) official league matches, Hammies – “Seccies” are now currently still on top of SLA -2 with 39 points, followed by UCT 2nd team on 33 points from 8 games, Durbel 2nd team on 25 points from 6 games, False Bay 2nd team on 24 points from 6 games, Vic’s 2nd team on 22 from 6 games, Maties 2nd team on 21 points from 7 games.
Our next four league fixtures are – home to Durbell, home to False Bay, home to Maties and away to UCT. Let’s keep staying on Top – HAMMIES!
by Derick Lichtenstein