ER United crushes Nigel

The home side had already threatened to turn the clash into a blowout after the first half as they enjoyed an 18-point advantage at the half-time break with the score at 24-6 in their favour.

Nigel, who were United’s opponents in last year’s thrilling Merlin League final at the Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park, were made to look like a shadow of their dominant selves of last year.

They were the overwhelming favourites coming into that final match, with many writing off United before the ball was even kicked for the final.

Fast-forward nine months later, and the proud Nigel outfit were completely overwhelmed.

The United run-on XV donned the same jerseys they won the Merlin League in for the first half of the encounter, a move coach Derrick Sampson later explained.

“We decided to wear the jersey we wore for last year’s final to give them a psychological blow by reminding them of that day.”

The visitors can be forgiven if that day is still indeed haunting them, as they led 34-14 at half-time to all but win the Merlin League with ease before a second-half turn around no one could’ve scripted.

United produced miracles and rallied to outscore them 42-17 before winning 56-51.

Unlike the Merlin League final where United were completely blown off the park, in the first half it was the hosts who were in control of the match this time around.

Sampson made several changes and positional tweaks to the backline in a move that ultimately paid dividends. The smartest of the tweaks appeared to be moving in-form halfback Cameron Lentoor from scrumhalf to the left wing.

Lentoor proved to be a nuisance to the Nigel defence as he bamboozled and dazzled with his nasty sidesteps and pace. He capped his Man of the Match outing with a total of 29 points from his hat-trick of tries and seven conversions.

United scored nine tries in total, with fullback Raydall Walters grabbing a brace and additional singles by scrumhalf Clayton Gindan, captain Fanie van Staden and replacement duo Reggie Kinana and Morne Badenhorst all joining Lentoor in the try-scoring charts.

“I want to say again that the league race is a marathon and not a sprint,” explained Sampson.

“Our aim is to finish in one of the top six play-off positions and I’m happy that we are in the top six.

“I did say I want to build a new team for this season and I think we are 90 per cent there. The depth of the squad is good because we’ve showed that any player can come in and do the job.

“We were firing on all cylinders.

“We’re working hard on our defensive structures because in our past games, it was like a scoring competition with our opponents because we conceded too many tries. And the hard work on defence is working because we only conceded one try against Nigel.”

Meanwhile, United’s u-21 team were just 12 points shy of the 100 mark in their early kick-off as they completed an 88-0 blowout sweep.

United’s second team beat Benoni 43-18.

United scorers:

Tries: Cameron Lentoor (3), Raydall Walters (2), Clayton Gindan, Fanie van Staden (c), Reggie Kinana, Morne Badenhorst.

Conversions: Cameron Lentoor (7).

United: 1 Laurie Brown, 2 Shaun de Wet, 3 Sakkie Klaas, 4 Jacques van Tonder, 5 Tyrin Wessels, 6 Piet Mnguni, 7 Fanie van Staden (c), 8 Calvin Jantjies; 9 Clayton Gindan, 10 Ronald Botes, 11 Cameron Lentoor, 12 Rudolf Prinsloo, 13 Jacky Jonkers, 14 Dustin Losch, 15 Raydall Walters

Substitutions: 16 Zolani Norawana, 17 Pieter Haviga, 18 Reggie Kinana, 19 Gibson Mcoco, 20 Flex Bosman, 21 Morne Badenhorst, 22 Liam Mackay. – @SabeloBoksburg