Collegians RFC’s nippy and street-wise players had a rough day in the second leg of the Western Province Rugby Football Union sevens competition, at Goodwood, at the weekend.
Playing in Pool B, the side was among a total of 32 teams, divided into two groups, taking part in the competition. Only in its second week, the competition has already produced some exciting rugby action with the teams playing less than six matches each, over the two weeks. The Lentegeur-based side came to the weekend’s leg with their confidence levels on a high having won two and lost only one of their three matches in the first leg, two weeks ago.
However, as it turned out their opponents in the second leg were even more determined.
In fact, they came up against hosts Goodwood in their first match of the round, which proved to be a tightly contested affair. The Northern suburbs side proved to be a better team on the day, outscoring Collegians with three tries to one, to record a 21-3 victory. By then the pressure was on the Lentegeur outfit to bounce back to winning ways, in their second match, against Kraaifontein. And, they did produce a better performance this time around pushing Kraaifontein all the way.
However, Collegians’ missed conversion proved to be the turning point in the match, handing Kraaifontein a 7-5 victory. There was no doubt the Lentegeur side was improving with each game and that became clear in their last match against Elsies River’s Northerns RFC. And, after the two back to back defeats they suffered, the side came back and played like wounded lions against the Northerns. The Elsies River side didn’t know what had hit them as the Lentegeur outfit scored three tries without a reply to record a 17-0 victory. There is still a lot to play for, for Collegians as anything can happen in the next three rounds before the final leg on Saturday November 12.
The side is currently in eighth position in the 16-team pool B with 16 log points having won three and lost three of their six group matches so far.
They have, in the process, scored 93 points and conceded 67. They also have their work cut out as they are in the process of chasing pool leaders Stellenbosch who have 30 points, also from six matches.
Also ahead of the Lentegeur side in the pool are Helderberg, Belhar,
Kuilsriver, Victorians, Kraaifontein and Goodwood.
Breathing heavily down Collegians’ throats are ninth placed Kylemore who have 15 points, having also won three and lost three of their six matches.
Villager, Noordelikes, Rangers, Blakes, Eersteriver and Western Brothers complete the bottom four.
This year’s competition started a fortnight ago and the Lentegeur side looked to ge in fine form, winning two and losing one of their first three matches. In fact, they had an ideal start to the competition, beating Raithby Universals 32-10 in their first match, two weeks ago. However, a 19-12 loss to Kylemore in their second match marked the beginning of the side’s mixed fortunes, as they went on to win two and lost two of their next four matches. The competition is going to be even tougher in next week’s third round of matches as Collegians take on second-placed Helderberg, tenth-placed Villager and fourth-placed Villager RFC.