Waterless piracy muddies Roodepoort Rugby Club’s Grand Challenge season

The finest lines of success and failure can often hinge on timing.

Roodepoort Rugby Club has concluded what will go down as a season defined by small margins and a ponderous decision. 2023 Castle Lager Pirates Grand Challenge highs included blowout wins against Wanderers and Alberton and a hard-fought home win against Raiders. The university teams would prove a stumbling block for Roodepoort with one notably unhonoured fixture against the University of Johannesburg (UJ) being the defining plateau.

In the build-up to arguably the biggest game of the season, Roodepoort had to prepare for a week without water. Expecting a visit from the UJ on July 15, the game was unceremoniously postponed the day before. Pirates Rugby Club was to host the University of Witwatersrand while students from Auckland Park would play in Roodepoort. Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) informed the four clubs on July 14 that their games would not go ahead due to the water outage that threatened to extend past that coming weekend.

The game against UJ came the week after a 17–17 draw with the Raiders and Roodepoort felt their form was on an upward trajectory. UJ had just competed in the University Sport South Africa Rugby Championship, losing to the University of Stellenbosch 32–19 in the final in Durban on July 12. Roodepoort president Theuns Naude relayed that days before the fixture he had a verbal agreement with UJ that Roodepoort would receive full points for the game but believes the water outage was used as an excuse to backtrack at the last minute.

GLRU general manager Pieter Visser cited ‘hygiene, sanitation, and potentially the players’ welfare’ when considering if the game should go ahead.

“The Player Welfare Guidelines, Hygiene and Infection Control Guideline, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines, underline the importance of preventing the transmission of infectious diseases, especially in conditions where water shortages might compromise sanitation,” stated Visser.

During the water outage, universities had advised staff to work from home and for students not to come to campus.

“Given these circumstances, the GLRU Management Committee unanimously decided to cancel the mentioned fixtures involving the UJ and Wits scheduled during this period. The decision was to declare these matches as draws, with each team receiving three log points,” stated Visser, despite UJ’s rugby team being in Durban three days before the Roodepoort fixture.

GLRU did give the teams involved three options but Roodepoort was adamant that UJ forfeit the points as the Orange Army was the team bothered by the water situation. The alternatives were to get double points from the first round game, one which UJ won, or reschedule the fixture for August 19. This date would be one week from the semi-finals but as Roodepoort finished their fixtures on July 29, Roodepoort felt the three-week break would do more harm for their match sharpness than good.

Naude was still fuming weeks after the UJ debacle but head coach Neil Kalify was more pragmatic when reviewing the season.

“I feel it was a successful season even though we didn’t get our reward. The guys did well and I think Roodepoort is in a phase of resurgence. The UJ incident did drop morale from that point because those kinds of rulings don’t appear in the competition rules. It was disappointing and it did derail us a bit,” said Kalify, whose team would lose their final two fixtures as top-four hopes had faded.

Commenting on the match preceding the UJ week, Kalify identified a tiny window in the season that sticks out.

“Maybe that game where we drew to Raiders. We were in control right until the last minute and even injury time. Allowing them to equalise, that might have gone better, but in general, I think the boys did well,” he said.

Roodepoort’s strength throughout their season was at set pieces, particularly in the scrums and mauls from lineouts. Kalify attributes this to the work done by coach and former Lions, Bulls, and Clermont Auvergne hooker Willie Wepenar.

“Having him at the club is massive as he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge” he said.

Sensing the club’s status is being re-established, Kalify said, “Roodepoort is back on the map and we will get better and better as we grow from here. From now and in the future, we will be a big threat.”