In-form Uni-Mil get the better of False Bay

Motorvaps False Bay RFC surrendered a slender 10-9 half time score to lose to a high quality Uni-Mil RFC team at Constantia on Saturday. The final score was 13-24.

The backdrop to the day of competitive rugby was the home farewell to popular, talented, Second XV captain, Dustin Andrews, who inspired his team to overcome high quality visitors. The 30-year-old captained his team to a league title in 2022, which they hope to emulate again this season. His career is peppered with achievement, including caps for Zimbabwe and of course, the False Bay First XV.

In the main fixture, the Bay, lying seventh on the SLA table, were seeking a win, preferably a bonus-point win, to aid their late run for knock-out qualification. Their opponents, lying second, have shown enormous growth as a club over the last number of years.

Uni-Mil’s intentions were made blatantly clear in the third minute when centre Lyle Hendricks stepped up with kicking tee in hand, to attempt a 55-metre penalty conversion. It was more than just an attempt. It sailed squarely between the uprights, with enough energy to clear another set of poles had they been placed five metres further back. It had hosts False Bay reconsidering any marginal play which may result in a penalty within 60 metres of their own line, as they discovered a few minutes later, as Hendricks repeated the punishment.

They abandoned this ploy in favour of line kicks off penalties, of which there were 20 against the home side. Uni-Mil may also have opted to rather exert a slow death on their hosts, starving them of possession and forcing them to launch attacks from their own half, rather than working their way into the strike zone to score.

In between these two kicks, False Bay had struck back by working their way into a position to score, denied by an act of foul play and a penalty try being awarded to them, allowing the home team to take a 7-3 lead, then that second Hendricks three-pointer, later followed by a third to give his team a 9-7 lead shortly before the break.

“Millies”, with a massive pack, were surprisingly overshadowed in the early scrums, but they settled down and began to exert a semblance of dominance as the half progressed. Generally, their set-pieces was the platform on which their victory was built.

Shortly before the half-time whistle, Bay fullback Ewan Adams snatched the lead for his team with his first points of the day. Home support were comfortable with a half-time lead, albeit a scant one point, confident that their team would pull out the stops in the second stanza, tire the big Millies forwards out, and then hold on for the victory they sought to stay in play-off contention.

Yet it takes two to cha-cha, and the visitors had set something of a trap in appearing to be on the wane, soon to capitulate as they ran out of steam. Uni-Mil shifted gear and began to not only dominate the Bay but stymie their attempts at fluid attacking rugby and counter attack. They regained the lead through a try by wing Brian Matotamusha, unconverted to give them a slender four-point lead, reduced to a single point through an Adams penalty kick.

With False Bay trailing 13-14, their confidence in competing for a win remained, and the substantial crowd, with a large share of travelling support, were treated to a high-quality tussle.

Uni-Mil extended their lead to 6 points when flank Leon Carstens scored a try, converted by Hendricks. The eight-point lead meant that False Bay needed to score twice to take the victory, or at least once to bag a bonus point for ending within seven points.

It was not to be as Hendricks nailed a penalty kick, the final tack in the Bay’s coffin.

In the build-up to the main match, the Bay’s Third XV cemented their second position on their table with a resounding 47-7 victory. False Bay’s Second XV absorbed a spirited performance by the Uni-Mil second stringers, before bagging a fourth try in their 24-5 win in the main curtain-raiser.

Over the last three years, the flow upwards of young Under 21 talent has been feeding the cub’s rich talent pool. Coaches Ash Pears and Kwakona Ngwanya, have developed young talent coming through, firstly into winners while within their ranks and then progressing to the senior ranks as stand-out players. A shining example is eighthman Alex Young, last season shining for the juniors, and on Saturday exhibiting his rich talent as he stood out in this contest.

The current False Bay under-20 A team occupy second place on their table, their talent was on full display in their 73-0 romp over Uni-Mil.

False Bay would have played CPUT at their Bellville campus last night, and have one match remaining, against NTK in a week. Their SLA play-offs hopes are out of their hands, although not buried, as various results in other SLA matches may benefit the Bay.

• Jon Harris is a member of False Bay RFC.