Victory comes with a cost for ‘Panne’
Following four weeks of an inactive Valke Peregrine League, due to long weekends and public holidays, the region’s elite rugby competition returned on the night of Friday, May 8, for clashes between the Brakpan and Boksburg rugby clubs.
Rugby rustiness was evident on the park as the “Panne” outfit were not quite their usual ruthless selves, particularly among the forwards, but they did their job in Boksburg and ran out as 36-10 winners.
The Boksburg XV, nicknamed “The Owls”, are always strong contenders for league honours, but their credentials were questioned as they could not prevent an out of sorts looking Brakpan from crossing over their try-line on six occasions.
The line-out, orchestrated by skipper Francois “Bones” Robbertse and 2014 Player of the Year Dean van der Merwe, was excellent and created numerous opportunities that could not be captilised on.
Winger Thinus Ueckermann and fullback Gido Horn each scored a brace of tries (four out of five Brakpan tries that were scored by their back three).
The win, although important, came with costs, as Van der Merwe and Ian Oosthuizen both sustained injuries, as did flanker Wikus van den Berg, who continued playing despite suffering a cracked eye socket, which will keep him sidelined for a few weeks..
Brakpan try-scorers on the night were Gido Horn (two), Thinus Ueckermann (two), Sweef Potgieter and Kyle Hilton. Conversions: Horn (three).
On the night, Brakpan’s u-21s beat the Boksburg u-21s 42-25, while their second XV beat Boksburg’s second XV 28-10, to ensure a clean sweep for the club.
