THE u-21 team of the Alberton Rugby Club recently took part in a 10-a-side festival hosted by the Barbarians Rugby Club.
The fun took place on Saturday, November 18 at the home ground of the Union Rugby Club in Kibler Park.
Similar to the Sevens format, 10’s lends itself to running rugby. You have five forwards and five backs and games are played 15 minutes each way.
Alberton’s first game was against Union Rugby Club’s u-21 team, and from the outset it was evident that both teams were willing to give the ball air and run from anywhere on the field.
Union had the brighter start, and just before half time were first to breach the defence from long range when two Alberton players missed tackles, allowing the Union player to go over untouched under the poles. The conversion was good.
Alberton is never a side to give up, though, and they bounced back with two tries of their own. Unfortunately they then leaked a soft try, again from long range after once more missing a couple of tackles.
The result was that Union had two easy conversions, while Alberton’s conversion attempts were not successful as they were taken from wide.
Alberton’s two tries were scored by Sasha Jacobs and Kalfie Duncan. Duncan’s try was a superb effort. Although an overlap had been created, he was given a poor pass. He is very tall but did superbly well to get down, pick up the ball on his toes and crash over despite having a tackler on his back.
Final score: 14-10 (to Union).
Alberton’s second and third games were also close, with a 24-20 victory over Boksburg and a 27-19 defeat to the Boksburg senior side.
Two things stand out for me. First, although it is very early in the season, Dwayne Jacobs scored a brace of tries in the last two games. He was junior player of the year last year and looks to be in good early form. As long as he keeps his feet on the ground, he is definitely a star in the making.
The second player that impressed me was scrumhalf for the day, Barend Voster, who usually plays flyhalf or full-back and has definitely been blessed with ball sense. He even played for the second team a few times last year despite his youth. He too appears to be one to watch this year.
Well done, Alberton. A pretty good start for so early in the season.
*Article (edited) and images supplied by Wayne Raath.
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