Swallows fly past Gardens in exciting showdown

Swallows narrowly edged Eastern Cape Super 12 club rugby defending champions Gardens 16-12 in a thrilling encounter at the NU1 Stadium in Mdantsane on Saturday.

The Group A game started slowly with both teams committing errors at key moments.

It was the visitors who broke the deadlock when flanker Dalington Gans crossed the tryline in the 25th minute after a good break by the Gardens flyhalf.

Swallows fullback Cameron Lentoor immediately hit back with a penalty.

Gardens’ ill-discipline crept in when forward Ayanda Nagompula was yellow-carded for playing the ball while offside.

The hosts took full advantage of playing against 14 men as impressive 8th man Lukhanyo Siyobi scored a try after good interplay from Swallows.

Lentoor easily converted to make it 10-5 to the Border team after 40 minutes.

After the break, Lentoor failed to extend Swallows’ lead when he missed two penalties.

Gardens flanker Nathal Forbes was the second player to be sent to the sin bin for slowing down play.

His teammates Gans and impressive inside centre Virgil Russel were given yellow and red cards for dangerous play respectively.

Despite ill-discipline costing them, the visitors seemed determined to get back in the game.

However, poor officiating also did not do them any favours as the referee made several bad calls including failing to penalise Swallows for a lawn mower tackle.

Lentoor, who missed a couple of penalties, finally extended Swallows lead to 16-5 with quick successive penalties.

The visitors threw everything at the hosts and were rewarded when they scored a converted intercept try under the poles.

In the last five minutes, the hundreds of fans were on their feet as it looked like Gardens might steal a victory. But Swallows held on for a hard-fought victory.

Gardens coach Ronnie Korkee said: “Because we are the champions, everyone wants to win against us, even the referees.

“But we’ll go back and try and correct our faults on Monday. Congratulations to Swallows.”

Swallows coach Sindile Mayende heaped praise on his players.

“I’m very proud of how my boys played. They stuck to the plan,” Mayende said.

Results for all the games:

Group A: Swallows 16-12 Gardens; Park 17-22 Spring Rose and Breakers 18-25 Cambridge.

Group B: East London Police 7-10 Buffaloes; Port Elizabeth Harlequins 12-14 Walter Sisulu University, Progress 26-14 Despatch.