White River win thriller against Nelspruit
The visitors won by seven points at Nelspruit Rugby Club
White River Rugby Club scored a 30-23 victory over Nelspruit Rugby Club in the Ehlanzeni Premier League on Saturday.
Nelspruit hosted the fixture.
The match was not pretty, but it was a thriller. Both teams made too many unforced errors, but in the end it was the team in red that handled the pressure the best.
Nelspruit’s Juandré Odendaal scored a try in the eighth minute, and Neil Manley kicked the conversion to give the home team an 8-0 lead.
Stefan van der Bank put White River on the scoreboard with a penalty kick shortly afterwards.
White River claimed the lead through a try on 18 minutes. A tapped penalty saw Willem Stassen score the five points, with Van der Bank adding the extra two.
The home team regained the lead through a try from Njabulo Shabangu in the 33rd minute and the conversion by Manley.
But White River held a 15-14 lead at half-time, thanks to a try by Kyle Leukes.
The team stepped up a gear in the second half. Visser Maas scored shortly after the restart. Van der Bank slotted the conversion.
Two penalty goals by Manley took Nelspruit within two points of the visitors.
But in the 53rd minute, an excellent backline attack by White River was finished off by Lwazi Mogodiro.
Manley and Van der Bank traded penalty goals in the final 10 minutes of the game.
White River deserved the 30-23 win. They had too much firepower.
Nelspruit played to win until the final whistle. They played excellent rugby in spurts, but were inconsistent during the 80 minutes.
