On Saturday 27 July, Roto Tank Roodepoort Rugby Club hosted the University of Johannesburg for a Pirates Grand Challenge Top 6 fixture at Ruimsig Stadium.
Poorte wasted no time and got straight into business, but determined defence from the visitors kept them at bay. However, the pressure got too much for UJ and they conceded an early penalty, which the Poorte fullback, Terence Longworth, converted with ease.
UJ replied with a beautiful try initiated by their no 15, Darryle Kamee through some good running and quick thinking, which saw the UJ scrumhalf collecting the ball to cross the try line.
The nippy UJ scrumhalf crossed the line again after some good short passes from his forwards that had the Poorte defence in a bit of a panic.
Poorte’s loose forward, Carl Mellet had his hard work rewarded when he forced his way over the try line and scored the first try for Roodepoort, closing the gap to 8–14 in favour of the visitors.
The score at halftime remained 8–14 with Poorte going into the break trailing by six points, which meant they had to up their game.
Early in the second half UJ wasted no time and quickly swung the ball wide to their speedy no 11, who went all the way to score the third try for the visitors.
The second half produced more action than the first. Poorte started to make some good runs with wingers Selom Gavor and Luxolo Ntsepe testing the UJ defence out wide.
Terence had some opportunities to show his devastating pace but the visitors stood firm and anchored their ship at a narrow win over the home side.
The final score of the day was 23–24 in favour of the visiting side, who fought in all departments to stop the fierce Poorte attack.
