THE Amanzimtoti Rugby Club beat the Nashua Crusaders 5-12 away from home on Saturday. While some of the South Coast Terriers fans claimed to have home ground advantage because of their Murray Cup triumph last year and that certainly seemed the case as the away side scored the opening try just six minutes in, with prop Marthinus Volker touching down for the five points. The try was easily converted by Jaco de Jager.
From that point on, it was Crusaders who held the majority of the possession and territory but they were unable to convert that into points. The first half ended 7-0 to the team from Toti.
The second half played out in much the same way with the away side hitting the Crusaders on the break. Lihlithemba Mazibuko scored his team’s second try, the conversion was missed but the game looked to favour the away side.
A try from the Crusaders in the last 10 minutes of the game was not enough to salvage any bonus points. A highlight of the away team’s victory was their defense which stood stoically solid.
Assistant coach, Dale Farnham, said he was very disappointed with his team on the day.
“We had so much possession and territory and we just couldn’t make that count. There were a number of referee decisions that were questionable. I felt Toti wheeled the scrum and should have been penalised but we were instead, which I don’t understand. The boys tried hard but unfortunately we could not come up with the goods,” said a disheartened Farnham.
