Poorte hammers Welkom

A merciless Roodepoort Rugby Club first team cruised to a 75-0 victory over Welkom in the second round of the Cell C Community Cup this past weekend.

Poorte ran in 11 tries in total – six during the first half and five in the second to bag maximum points in their first of two matches on tour.

“Much better,” coach Brian Armitage said following the emphatic victory.

“There was an improvement at the breakdown which meant our backs got quick ball. The set pieces were great again this week and we dominated them in terms of game plan. We are very satisfied.”

Other Poorte coach, Jorge Carvalho added, “There was some outstanding interplay between forwards and backs. I think we controlled the game much better than we did against Bloem Crusaders.”

Man of the match went to Ruan Basson, who came off the bench as winger. Other players on fire included flanker Juan Shaw who scored three tries and winger, Lesego Malau, who scored two tries. In terms of the kicking, both flyhalf Hennie Oosthuizen and fullback Chanley Williams succeeded with five conversions each.

The question now is how much can Roodepoort actually take out of the match considering College Rovers hammered the same opposition 85-0 the previous weekend.

Brian says that, “It was important for us to get the five points and rack up a big point difference. We are also aware that we can’t rate ourselves against a side like College Rovers who beat the same opposition more or less the same.

“We can still be confident that we will compete very well against College Rovers in two weeks time. We had to do well against Welkom, and that’s what we did.”

Roodepoort now go on top of Pool B standings with nine points and a positive point difference of 77 after two games.

Pool favorites, College Rovers, who had a bye weekend are third with five log points and a healthy point difference of 85.

Bloem Crusaders from the Free State moved to second on the log with six points following their bonus point 29-21 victory over another Welkom side, the Eagle Towing Rovers at home.

Poorte will remain in Welkom for one more week to face Welkom Rovers on Saturday, 22 March. They then travel back to Roodepoort for the mouthwatering Pool B clash against College Rovers on Saturday, 29 March.

Point scorers for Roodepoort:

• Tries: Juan Shaw (3), Thys de Villiers (1), Nicky Cronje (1), Gerhard Scholtz (1), Lesego Malau (2), Junior Gray (1), Chanley Williams (1), Jesse Geyer (1).

• Conversions: Chanley Williams (5) and Hennie Oosthuizen (5).

Sables, (Roodepoort Rugby Club’s second team) couldn’t build on their victory over Kempton Wolwe a week ago in Assupol Series after they lost 28-24 to Rustenburg Impala on home soil this past weekend.

They have to now bag the full five points against the tough outfit from the East Rand, Boksburg this weekend if they want to qualify for the knockout stage.

Point scorers for Sables against Impala:

• Tries: Meyrick Gibhard (1), Jaques du Toit (1).

• Coversion: Jaco Posthumus (1).

• Penalties: Jaco Posthumus (3).

• Drop goal: Jaques du Toit (1).