Hoërskool Alberton blown away by Transvalia

THE u-15 side that was victorious in the Golden Lions Finals two weeks earlier came up against Transvalia in the quarter finals of the Beeld Trophy on Saturday, August 12, in Alberton.

It proved to be a bridge too far against the side from Sedibeng, although the scoreline by no means reflects the character which the young team displayed.

The most noticeable difference between the sides before, they even took to the field, was the discrepancy in sheer size of the players in all different positions.

This would prove a mountain too tall to overcome.

The game started off with the hosts looking to play attractive rugby as they always do. However, they could not string long passages of play together as the mistakes would come. The first try by Transvalia was a driving maul from a line-out after the visitors got a penalty and kicked for a touch.

The Alberton counter maul evaporated and the visitors crashed over with the brute strength and size advantage proving too much. Transvalia were later to score from a similar position in the second half but, having said that the brute strength pushed them over, I must admit that the mauls were extremely well organised and executed. A sign of a team that was very well drilled.

The one aspect that Alberton can be criticised for is when they were driving forward the body positions were too high and on a number of occasions the player was held up in the tackle and the turnover was won by Transvalia.

The second and third tries by the visitors were soft tries too. The third being an example of the mismatch in certain areas where a ball was ripped off the Alberton player in the tackle and taken off the line.

Alberton never gave up at any stage and they showed that they have a lot of heart.

They should have even scored a try of their own before the break but each time they made small errors that robbed them of opportunities.

The second half was much the same. The half-time score of 12-0, as well as the final score of 29-0, is certainly not a true reflection of the character displayed by the team. Head coach Marcus Pretorius and the rest of the coaching staff can be very proud of the team and their accomplishments this season, especially in view of their second successive league title as well as NWU super 16 trophy.

Well done to the Alies team. I have no doubt that Alberton can look forward to more of the same excellent rugby next year.

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