UNIVERSITY of Fort Hare Blues helped Old Selbornians retain their Community Cup status this year when they beat East London Police 24-22 in their Border Club Rugby Cup semifinal at the Buffalo City Stadium on Wednesday night.
Blues, who are not eligible to play in the Community Cup due to the competition rules and regulations and their Varsity Shield commitments, pulled off a big upset when they knocked out rivals Police in the penultimate round.
In the first semifinal of the evening, defending Cup champions Old Boys dug deep to overcome a resurgent Buffaloes outfit (28-10) to book their place in the final against Blues.
Blues stand-in coach Currie Lumumba said he was pleased with his charges’ performance especially the backline.
“It was a very tough game and we didn’t take our points when they were on offer.
“We’ve been lacking tries in the past couple of games but today we showed if we do the basics right upfront and let the backs run, we can score tries.
“The boys played well and Oliver (Zono) was outstanding tonight at flyhalf, he kicked them to pieces. His allround game just keeps improving,” said Lumumba.
It was sweet revenge for the Blues who lost out to Police (10-6) in the Flya Sportswear Knockout competition last month and also in the league earlier this year.
Police coach Anton Jacobs believes the absence of inspirational captain and flank Bonga Ntunjane was a huge contributing factor to the loss.
“We really played into their hands tonight, we kicked possession away and had to defend the whole time which put us under pressure and we made mistakes.
“We had a good first half and managed to put some points on the board to go to halftime 17-9 up but we lost our structure in the second half.”
The victory for Old Boys meant they will now battle it out for the Cup honours with an open passage to next year’s Community Cup irrespective of the result in the final.
Old Boys coach Alistair Alexander believes the Blues did them a huge favour but it’s on for the final.
“Fort Hare have done us an epic favour tonight, they have booked us a ticket into the club champs again by beating Police.
“The cherry on top will be for us to go on now and win the Cup in preparation for the national tournament next year.
“The guys really just need to dig deep and focus on the Cup final, we’ll be looking to tighten up in a few areas of play and finish the season with a big bang.”
The final will be held at the Buffalo City Stadium together with the Shield, second teams and the U21 finals on September 28.
Blues give Old Boys helping hand
Blues, who are not eligible to play in the Community Cup due to the competition rules and regulations and their Varsity Shield commitments, pulled off a big upset when they knocked out rivals Police in the penultimate round.
In the first semifinal of the evening, defending Cup champions Old Boys dug deep to overcome a resurgent Buffaloes outfit (28-10) to book their place in the final against Blues.
Blues stand-in coach Currie Lumumba said he was pleased with his charges’ performance especially the backline.
“It was a very tough game and we didn’t take our points when they were on offer.
“We’ve been lacking tries in the past couple of games but today we showed if we do the basics right upfront and let the backs run, we can score tries.
“The boys played well and Oliver (Zono) was outstanding tonight at flyhalf, he kicked them to pieces. His allround game just keeps improving,” said Lumumba.
It was sweet revenge for the Blues who lost out to Police (10-6) in the Flya Sportswear Knockout competition last month and also in the league earlier this year.
Police coach Anton Jacobs believes the absence of inspirational captain and flank Bonga Ntunjane was a huge contributing factor to the loss.
“We really played into their hands tonight, we kicked possession away and had to defend the whole time which put us under pressure and we made mistakes.
“We had a good first half and managed to put some points on the board to go to halftime 17-9 up but we lost our structure in the second half.”
The victory for Old Boys meant they will now battle it out for the Cup honours with an open passage to next year’s Community Cup irrespective of the result in the final.
Old Boys coach Alistair Alexander believes the Blues did them a huge favour but it’s on for the final.
“Fort Hare have done us an epic favour tonight, they have booked us a ticket into the club champs again by beating Police.
“The cherry on top will be for us to go on now and win the Cup in preparation for the national tournament next year.
“The guys really just need to dig deep and focus on the Cup final, we’ll be looking to tighten up in a few areas of play and finish the season with a big bang.”
The final will be held at the Buffalo City Stadium together with the Shield, second teams and the U21 finals on September 28.
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