Having home advantage and in soggy conditions, Hamilton’s failed to start well and it was the visitors who scored an early well worked try through their speedy backline to go 7 nil up. Early defensive woes were then set aside.
The rest of the 1st half belonged to Hamilton’s and to our credit we played some great Rugby sadly without allot of points to show for it. Opting for line outs and quick taps from a string of very kickable penalties resulted in Hammies leaving quite a few easy points out there. Against a fired up Maties side who have started well {with the benefit of hindsight}, it was probably not the right call and proved costly as Hammies later on found score board pressure to much to overcome. What the players didn’t realize and as it turned out, we played against probably the best defensive outfit we have faced in 2 seasons. So well done to Vics for their commitment on a very organized and committed defence on the day.
A single 1st half try was the sum of our efforts for the day. The try was however a beauty!! Starting from a line out drive followed by a series of driving mauls, the ball went through several phases before a very neat little chip by fly half Wybrand Dekok that saw my man of the match Siya Poswa dive under the posts to level matters at 7 – 7. Interesting that it took a grubber to break Vics defence and sadly nothing else worked for us from that point onwards.
Just before the break Hammies were rocked by a serious knee injury to lock Derek Schnaps who was having a great day in the line outs and really putting his hand up around the park. We wish you well in your recovery Derek and thanks for your efforts on and off the field this season. You will be missed on the field but I’m sure we will see you on the sidelines and in the pub!!
At the break we felt confident and rightly so. But at 7 – 10 score line was concerning for the coaches given the amount of scoring chances we failed to convert. Belief that sustained pressure and superior 1st half forward pack that the dam wall of Victorian defenders would break.
That simply didn’t happen.
In the second half Vics made early substitutions in the front row and immediately gained parity and then superiority upfront as Hammies ran out of puff, Vics got stronger as the game went on and were full value for their victory running in 2 good tries from long range and against the run of play.
On the bright side there was a very good performance from our scrum half Chad who continues to impress. All 3 debutants, full back Dean Wolmarans, centre Jaco Enslin and hooker Regard had more than satisfactory debuts and its great to have new players adding fresh skills and motivation into the squad.
Upfront Frank McNish played his best game this season at loose head prop with some real hard running and strong tackles.
However the outstanding player of the day for me was left wing Sia Poswa who just did everything well and is maturing as a player every week. Well played Sia!
SK Walmers is up next and we look forward to putting some things right against our neighbours.
Full Time: Hamiltons 7 Victorians 22