CCC Brakpan Rugby Club has been steadily improving this season. While they started the year uneasily, they have looked impressive lately.
The first team’s 47-7 victory over East Rand United at Bosman Stadium on Saturday told a story of a club rising in confidence.
The second team won their match 68-0 while the U21 side thumped their opponents 112-7.
“Things have been picking up,” said the club’s chairperson, Harry Nieuwenhuis.
“The week before we demolished Boksburg.”
These performances see all three teams from Bosman Stadium qualify for the semi-finals.
“The team (first side) is getting together. With the new coaches and the youngsters coming through it was always going to take a little bit of time,” said Nieuwenhuis.
“Slowly but surely they gelling quite well despite the few injury issues we have had. The group is starting to look like what we expected of them at the beginning of the season. We have qualified for the semi-finals, which was the first goal.”
Brakpan will host bitter rivals Springs on Saturday and then travel to Vereeniging a week later.
“We are going to use those matches to prepare for the semi-finals,” said the chairperson.
“Then let’s see if we can get to the final because anything can happen in a final.”
With most of last season’s U21 side having moved up to the senior side, Nieuwenhuis is excited about the club’s future.
“We have a strong coaching staff with everyone working with the head coach Darlton Botha. They are on the same page,” he said.
“It’s something that didn’t always work in the past but everyone sees the bigger picture now so the focus is the club as a whole.”
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With so many of last year’s U21 players moving up to play for the senior teams, there was some concern about the U21’s chances as they had to rebuild this season.
“We have some strong players coming up at the U21 team so it’s looking good there and the final could be between us and North-West University (NWU) again this year,” he said.
While things have been improving for the club there is still some concern around the Valke League as Benoni dropped out at the beginning of the season. This meant that all the clubs had to play fewer matches this year.
“There are big gaps between matches. After we play our last league match against Vereeniging there will be three weeks before we face Springs in the semi-finals,” said the Brakpan administrator.
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“That’s not good for any team’s momentum, it’s not good for the players either.”
Brakpan has also had issues with training sessions as the scheduled power cuts have seen practices being postponed.
“We are having to change training hours all the time. It makes it very difficult. When we were preparing for the Boksburg game we didn’t train at all because of the power cuts,” said Nieuwenhuis.
He has acknowledged that all the clubs in the league have to deal with the electricity issue. While there are challenges, Brakpan’s supporters will be encouraged that the club seems to be growing in the right direction.
