Richards Bay slay Crusaders at home

RICHARDS Bay Rugby Club’s first team slayed Durban’s Crusaders 34-17 in their Fidelity Security Moor Cup encounter on Friday evening at the Richards Bay Rugby Club.

The local side, coached by Trevor Montgomery, scored four tries to secure a well deserved bonus point victory in front of a packed home crowd.

Richards Bay took an early 17-10 lead going into half-time, thanks to two tries from fullback Jimmy Enslin, which flyhalf Stevie Meyer converted.

Winger JB Heunis kicked a monster 45m penalty to take the tally to 17.

Richards Bay used a rush defensive line which forced Crusaders to make mistakes, which the local squad pounced on and turned into points.

They failed with the basics at times, but the constant pressure paid off.

Crusaders tasted first blood in the second half when they dotted down to tie up the score.

But constant pressure from the Bay outfit resulted in a penalty in front of the sticks, which Heunis converted to regain the lead for his side (20-17).

Injuries to the Crusaders front rowers resulted in uncontested scrums which aided the Durban club’s cause as the Bay dominated that aspect of play.

Outside center Jaco Pretorius found his way to the whitewash, with Heunis converting, to extend the Bay’s lead to 27-17 with 10 minutes of play left.

Just when the local supporters started to celebrate, Heunis had a 30m break down the touchline, with the explosive backs handling the ball a number of times which resulted in JP Rossouw dotting down to the crowd’s delight.

Heunis kicked the conversion to end the game at 34-17.

Lock forward Dwayne Paul and outside center Pretorius received yellow cards during the game for foul play and repeated infringements.

In the earlier game played between the two second teams, Crusaders drilled the home side 31-12.

The only positive out of that game for the Bay was that they won the second half 12-0 after Crusaders took a comfortable 31-0 lead into the half-time break.

Christopher Mhlongo and Michael Kriedemann dotted down for the home side, with Thamqsan Maphanga kicking a conversion.

Richards Bay will be at home this weekend when they host Amanzimtoti in the last game of the Fidelity Security Moor Cup competition for the season.

After that, they will compete in the Castle Murray Cup knock-out competition.

Kick-off for the two games is scheduled for 2pm and 3.30pm.