East Rand United determined to put up a fight in the semi-finals
Flying winger Cameron Lentoor scored the solo consolation try as East Rand United were comprehensively beaten 40-10 by defending champions Brakpan who are peaking at the right time.
United No. 10 Andy Huysamen, who’s also been accurate with the boot this season, added his team’s extras with a conversion and a penalty.
The Valke Peregrine League game, which was the last of the round-robin phase before the semi-finals, was played at the champions’ Bosman Stadium in Brakpan on July 22.
The fixture was a dead rubber for United, who were destined to finish fourth on the log before kick-off, regardless of the match result.
With first playing fourth and second playing third in the semis, the result meant that United will have a second bite at the defending champion this weekend at the same venue.
Springs, who had a flying start in the season and looked like they were going to be the surprise runaway round-robin winners, will now travel to Vereeniging for the other semi-final clash.
The winner of the final will earn a spot in the SARU Gold Cup which will take place later this year.
Asked about his side’s underdog tag going into the semi-final clash, United coach Stephan Nel said: “My guys will pitch up. We lacked urgency in this match and we just didn’t play.
“We’ve got some time to prepare now and we can do it if we’re 100 per cent prepared.”
The mentor also touched on his team’s fourth position finish.
“I would’ve wanted to be in a different position to have a better chance of making the final and the Gold Cup. We were planning and hoped for the semifinal and our Gold Cup dream is still alive.”
Asked for his words to his players for making it to the knock-out phase of the league, Nel continued: “First of all, I’d like to thank all of them for their hard work and effort. A lot of effort went into it. It took a lot of sacrifices. Everyone in the club made sacrifices and hopefully, it will be like that for the next couple of weeks.”
The final league standings saw Brakpan finish top with 38 points after 10 matches. Vereeniging finished behind the champions with the same number of log points but inferior points difference.
Numbers three to six (in order) were Springs (35), United (26), Boksburg (19) and North-West University (1)
United
1 Andre Myburgh, 2 Shaun de Wet, 3 Dirk van Wyk, 4 Bakkies Bakumeni, 5 Jacques van Tonder, 6 Ruan Noeth, 7 Calvin Jantjies, 8 Fanie van Staden (captain); 9 Johan Pretorius, 10 Andy Huysamen, 11 Cameron Lentoor, 12 Jan Harm Venter, 13 Waylon Thompson, 14 Jackie Jonkers, 15 Clayton Gindan. Replacements: 16 Jonathan Botha, 17 Saki Klaas, 18 Kieran Campbell, 19 Piet Mnguni, 20 Tiaan Ramat, 21 Igor Engelbrecht, 22 Luzuko Ndanda – @SabeloBoksburg
