From the start of the 2015 season our mission was to win the WPRU SLA – 2 and with the comprehensive 50 – 15 bonus point home victory against St Georges RFC 2nd team on Saturday, Hammies -“Seccies” are now officially on top of the pile!
Blessed with the option to be able rotate players, the selectors continued to give opportunities to players from our 3rd team to gain some game time and experience with Hammies – “Seccies”. This created the perfect platform for the extremely talented, Reggie Boonzaaier (his first – 2nd team outing of the season), to earn my Man of the Match for a brilliant display at fullback. Reggie Boonzaaier took full advantage of the pressure that was created by our pack of forwards on St George’s team and when given the opportunity, he ran, kicked and “chipped” the opponent’s silly! It was an absolute faultless display by the running fullback.
We started positively with two early tries within the first 12 minutes of the game when our Lohan Lubbe (Flyhalf) scored in the corner and after an amazing bit of individual skill when Reggie Boonzaaier chased and collected his up and under in the opponents 22 and made a fantastic off-load for Calvin Kotze (Centre) scored under the posts. St Georges scored against the run of play when we lost possession in there 22 with of a loose pass by our backs. Two further tries late in the first half after some good quality ball and few set phases allowed skipper – Paddy Holman to score that was followed up with a great 40 meter run down the right hand side touchline by Marnus Coetzee (Flank) to score in the corner.
Leading 24 – 5 at the break, St Georges struck first blood in the second half because of some ill-discipline on the advantage line by Hammies – “Seccies” that lead to a couple of quick taps and a score. A few changes to player personal saw substitute Caleb Rightford (Hooker) score from good attacking rucks and set phases and then substitute winger, Ryan Johnson produced an individual brilliance when he cut through several tackles and ran around the opposition defence to score a quality solo effort in the corner. Once again our ill-discipline on the advantage line saw St Georges score from a few quick taps and with 10 minutes left of play we were leading 36 – 15. Another substitute, Paul Maxwell (Flank) broke blind from a ruck on half way and out-sprinted the cover defence to score under the posts! A lovely little chip kick by the hard working Chad Moolman (Centre) saw Reggie Boonzaaier (Fullback) pick up the trough ball and score a neat try near the end of the game.
At the halfway mark of the league, Hammies – “Seccies” are now currently on top of SLA -2 with 34 points from seven games, followed by UCT 2nd team on 33 points from 8 games, False Bay 2nd team on 24 points from 6 games, Vic’s 2nd teamson 22 from 6 games, Maties 2nd team on 21 points from 7 games. Let’s stay on Top – HAMMIES!
Our point’s scorers against St Georges were – Tries by Reggie Boonzaaier (Fullback), Calvin Kotze (Centre), Ryan Johnson (Wing), Paddy Holman (Eighth man), Marnus Coetzee (Flank), Paul Maxwell (Flank), Caleb Rightford (Hooker) and Lohan Lubbe (Flyhalf) who also added 5 conversions.
Our starting Line-up and bench that played against St Georges –
Reggie Boonzaaier
Gino Lupini (replaced by Ryan Johnson)
Calvin Kotze (replaced by Jason Poleman)
Chad Moolman
Monre Lingeveldt
Lohan Lubbe
Andrew Coetzee (replaced by Anthony Small)
Patrick Holman
Marnus Coetzee
Ross Beckett (replaced by Paul Maxwell)
Sphephelo Buthelezi (replaced by Emil Krugmann) Jan-Hendrick v d Linde
Daniel Pikker
Mike van Niekerk
Bantu Mene (replaced by Caleb Rightford)