Unbeaten rugby thirds top Foaden Bowl standings

ANOTHER large and vocal crowd turned up at Toti Rugby Club on Friday evening to support their team, as Toti first rugby team took on Premier division heavyweights, Marshall Security Crusaders.

Showing enormous courage against the much bigger Crusaders forwards who had a number of Vodacom Cup players in their ranks, it was the home team who took the game to the visitors, playing some high intensity rugby which seemed to take the Durban North team by surprise.

Were it not for a penalty awarded to Crusaders on the stroke of half time, Toti would have gone into the second half 11-10 to the good.

The second half followed pretty much the same pattern as the first, with both teams giving as good as they got. With the scores locked at 23-19 to Crusaders with four minutes left in the match, the game was there for the taking for Toti. A mistake at penalty time however allowed an under pressure Crusaders to escape the danger zone, and the pendulum swung in their favour as they laid siege on Toti’s try line in an effort to score their fourth try and the all-important bonus point which would have kept them in the hunt for the premier division title. A massive defensive effort by Toti, which has become a hallmark of this team who, week in and week out, have to front up to much bigger opposition, kept them out.

Try scorers in the game were Michael Uppink, making a welcome come back after a long injury lay off, and the industrious Thinus Volker. Fullback Jaco de Jager added the balance of the points via the boot.

The men of the match awards went to eighth man and captain, Zander Erasmus and to winger, Quintin Potgieter.

At the conclusion of the first round of fixtures, Toti are handily placed in fourth position behind the traditional big guns SA Home Loans Durban Collegians, Jonsson College Rovers and Marshall Security Crusaders, a huge achievement so far for this talented bunch of youngsters who play for the love of the game.

Toti seconds ran on against the star-studded Crusaders side at home on Friday evening. At first, Toti were overwhelmed by the physical size of their opponents. Toti fought valiantly but Crusaders proved to be the better side by scoring six tries. Toti got used to the onslaught and started to move the ball around, with the back line keeping the ball from the opposition forwards. Toti ran in two tries, one by Freddie Janse Van Rensburg and the other by the big Mike Moxley. Rouche Kleynhans successfully converted one of the two. Man of the match went to Mike Moxley and Freddie Janse Van Rensburg. The final score was 40-12.

On Thursday night, the Toti thirds went head-to-head with neighbours, Scottburgh 1st XV. The young and talented Scottburgh side had the ballies very concerned in the first half, dominating both territory and possession. As usual the Toti thirds somehow managed to come away with the spoils and, after turning 7-0 to the good at half time, began to dominate the second half and won 22-0. The win sees the Toti thirds end the first half of the season unbeaten and on top of the Foaden Bowl standings.

All the Toti teams play away this weekend, with the thirds travelling to Pinetown to take on the Raiders and the first and second XV travelling to Pietermaritzburg to play the UKZN Impis.