Kestrel League off to a great start
The Kestrel League kicked off on Saturday and Elsburg Rugby Club set a high standard for the season in their opening match.
What the weatherman predicted to be a cold, rainy and gloomy weekend, was not enough to stop the Kestrel League from taking place on Saturday at the Elspark Sports Complex.
The overcast weather was the perfect climate for the season opening clash between rivals Elsburg Rugby Club and Heidelberg Rugby Club.
From kick-off, the two teams went into attack mode and sought to hit collision points with force.
As the first half progressed Elsburg slowly managed to get the upper hand in the match and in the scrums.
Elsburg’s group of forwards kept dominating Heidelberg’s backline and managed three thigh heads in the half. Heidelberg’s performance went into a swift retreat allowing Elsburg’s backline to get into the frame by running hard and passing the ball quickly from one player to the other and from a quick tap penalty, Rudi Lombard crashed over the line to get Elsburg’s first five points on the scoreboard.
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The tries were coming in thick and fast from Elsburg putting even more pressure on Heidelberg’s defence.
Half-time saw Elsburg leading the match 33-0.
The second half started similar to the first half with the two teams still going at each other.
Elsburg raised the pace of the game by controlling all the phases of the game but one slip up from the backline afforded Jason van Jaarsveld of Heidelberg the chance to score their first points in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Once they put their mark on the scoreboard Heidelberg handled more ball possession in the remainder of the second half but Elsburg kept attacking and in one counter-attack Pierre Bezuidenhout scored a hat-trick try for Elsburg.
Elsburg won the match 64-5.
“I am happy with the win, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us.
“It’s back to the drawing board this week and we’ll brainstorm ways to raise our level of play,” said Elsburg’s coach, Mario Jordaan.
“This was our first game, and it proves that we need a better performance, which means we need a better team in order to have a good season,” said Ruan Black on behalf of the Heidelberg team.
On Saturday, Elsburg will host Edenvale Rugby Club in their second league match.
