Poorte looking to raid Bill Jardine Stadium as first test lies in wait
After two walks in the park to start their season, Poorte will come up against a stubborn Raiders outfit.
Roodepoort Rugby Club has had a rather easy start to its 2019 Pirates Grand Challenge season, with its teams winning nine of the 10 games played thus far, but will face their biggest challenge yet next.
Poorte, which represented the Golden Lions Rugby Union in the 2019 Gold Cup, went into the 2019 PGC off the back of its exit from the Gold Cup, but with Randfontein Rugby Club lying in wait in the season opener on Saturday, 6 April. Roodepoort went into the encounters as clear favourites, as the club won nine of the 10 games played against Randfontein in the PGC last year, with only the U/21s losing to Teine.
Poorte continued its West Rand dominance over Teine with four of the five sides managing to sweep aside the home side in Randfontein, with only the 3rds losing out. The 1st XV narrowly missed out on a century of points however, as it managed win 95–21 with a combined 50 points coming from Ashley ‘Spook’ van Wyk and André Esterhuizen alone.
The club continued its strong displays into the next fixture against newly-promoted Johannesburg Police Rugby Club on 13 April, where the teams were also firm favourites to emerge victorious. This time around, every Roodepoort side was able to emerge victorious, with the U/19s earning what has been Poorte’s smallest margin of victory thus far, i.e. 23 points (which is still a large margin).
Roodepoort will now be faced with a much tougher challenge however, as Raiders Rugby Club lies in wait at the Bill Jardine Stadium, a fixture which yielded mixed results for Poorte last season. In the return fixture at Ruimsig Stadium last season, it was only the U/19 and 1st teams who were able to defeat Raiders, but both won handsomely despite the U/21s, 3rds, and 2nds all losing their games against Raiders at Ruimsig Stadium.
All five sides will be hoping to emulate their success in their season openers, but will know full well that Raiders will not go down easily on home turf, as the Bill Jardine Stadium is notorious for being home to some upsets in the past. The clubs also locked horns in two pre-season games this year, with Poorte’s 1sts winning 36–33 and the 2nds winning 35–17, but both will have a tougher task this time round as some Gold Cup players have left the club.
