Crusaders lose opening game of season

THE Durban North derby between the PhotoNote Crusaders and the Varsity College RFC Tigers lived up to its hype on Friday night with the the Riverside based team winning 22-15. Some hard hits and some ill tempered play led to inauspicious start for ‘Saders who made a number of unforced errors in the game.

The Crusaders outfit who are a totally different one that ended in the top half of the Fidelity Moor Cup premier division standings, made a promising start with a penalty and a try in the first 15 minutes.

Some exciting combination play between Alex Currie and winger, Selwyn White, saw Chris van Niekerk go over for the first try. However the was to be it as the Tigers hit back with two fantastic break away tries of their own. A consolation try by Cohen Wortley for the Durban North team added respectability to the score but it was not enough as the away side lost by seven points.

Coach, Shaun van Rensburg, who was making his debut as head coach, expressed his disappointment at the result.

“It’s certainly not the way we wanted to start the season. I was hoping that we could pull off a win but it was not to be. We made too many mistakes, lost too much turnovers and we had a few knock-ons which stifled any attacking impetus we had. One of the standouts for me was the way our backs worked, we made some impressive breaks and I think if we can get the ball out wide, we can create some magic. We play Rovers next which is a mountain for us to climb after this loss, but we’ve got to pick ourselves up and pull off a win,” he said.