It was double knockout rugby delight for the Walter Sisulu University All Blacks at the weekend, as the first team won the President’s Cup and the second team won the second team cup final at BCM Stadium.
Both matches on Saturday afternoon were against respective league champs, MPM Old Selbornians, whose first team won the Border Super League, and their second team, winners of the second team league.
The games were extremely tight, low-scoring affairs, with defences coming out on top as the All Blacks won 15-10 in the President’s Cup and 18-14 in the second team cup final.
In the President’s Cup final a very competitive first half saw the All Blacks go into the break with a slender 7-3 lead, before holding off a second-half onslaught from Old Boys to take the win.
“We are delighted; I have been working with this team for a number of years and now everything has prevailed and we have won some silverware today,” said WSU coach Sipho Metula. “I am very happy with the guys and the work they have put in over this year.
“We struggled a bit in the league and we said we wanted to redeem ourselves in the cup, and we have done that now and ended our season on the best possible note.”
With scoring chances few and far between in the first half, the All Blacks missed a chance to go ahead in the sixth minute through a penalty, but got on the board eight minutes later when a good break into Old Boys’ 22m ended with eighthman Lubabalo Lento receiving the final pass and running in to score in the corner.
A good touchline conversion from flyhalf Beauton Pholman put them
7-0 up, which became 7-3 just before half time, with WSU infringing at the breakdown and wing Thabo Sisusa slotting the kick for Old Boys.
The All Blacks then started the second half well. They missed a penalty in the 45th minute, but attacked from the drop out, with wing Khanyiso Goloma going over for an unconverted try.
Old Boys’ forward dominance then came to the fore as they were awarded a scrum on the WSU 5m line, and after a number of penalties as they drilled the WSU pack backwards, they were awarded a penalty try to pull themselves back into the game at 12-10.
A yellow card to both teams then saw play become a bit scrappy, but WSU fullback Zizipho Kayi slotted a penalty to put WSU 15-10 up, which was enough to hold on to as they sealed a great win.
Old Boys will now look to the Gold Cup club rugby competition, which kicks off next month. “We experimented with the team a bit in the game; with the Gold Cup coming up we wanted to know where we stood from a depth perspective, and we got that today,” said Old Boys coach James Winstanley. “Credit to WSU, they played very well.”
In the second team match a tight first half ended with Old Boys holding a 6-5 advantage. The second half was then a similar affair, with Old Boys going into the last 10 minutes 14-11 up, but WSU prop Tamololo Mvimbi crashed over for a converted try to put them ahead, a lead which they held until the end.
“I amhappy we brought the silverware home,” said WSU second team coach Kauta Gqabantshi.