Varsity College Comets cruise to second Varsity Shield win
Four
unanswered second half tries from the FNB Varsity College Comets saw them to a
resounding 35-16 win over the FNB UFH Blues in their second FNB Varsity Shield
fixture on Thursday night.
The first half was a tense affair, before The IIE’s Varsity College gained the ascendancy in the second period to pull away. The win was their second consecutive bonus point win of the competition.
It was the perfect start for Varsity College as their electric speedster Tshegofatso Ramaloko chipped and regathered to score a brilliant individual try in the corner.
Last week’s Player that Rocked Frederick Marx converted from the touch line to give VC a 7-0 lead in the first minute of the match.
Nine minutes in and Fort Hare stretched their muscles with a surge down the right-hand touchline. A brilliant cover tackle from fullback Chris Horak prevented a try as the home side had to weather a storm from the visitors.
Fort Hare flyhalf Aphiwe Sidloyi got their first points with a penalty in the twelfth minute of the encounter.
After 23 minutes Sidloyi added three more points for the UFH Blues to narrow the gap to 7-6 to Varsity College.
It was the boot of Sidloyi that took the Blues ahead just before the break with his third penalty of the match to see Fort Hare into a 9-7 lead.
On the hooter Ryan Maree scored for Fort Hare and the conversion was kicked by Sidloyi to give the visitors a 16-7 lead at the break.
Seven minutes into the second period and Varsity College had hit back through some slick short side work from Horak and Marx.
Marx dotted down in the corner and converted his try to narrow the gap to 16-14.
After 54 minutes it was the Varsity College Comets who scored their third try. This time it was Jacques Marais who bundled over from a driving maul to give VC the lead.
Marx added the extra two points to give VC a 21-16 lead.
Varsity College lost Werner Coetzee to a yellow card for a dangerous tackle just before the start of the final quarter of the match.
With just over ten minutes left a maul splintered allowing Marais through, however he didn’t have the pace to get to the line. Juan Steyl picked up the scraps to dot down in the corner for the fourth try for Varsity College.
Marx was once again on target with the boot and the Comets were 28-16 ahead in the final ten minutes of the clash.
Soon after, Coetzee made amends for his ten minutes in the bin with a try of his own. Marx added another conversion from the corner to put the game out of sight for the visitors 35-16.
The home side saw out the closing minutes to register another good win and a second consecutive bonus point victory.
SUMMARY OF SCORE
FNB
Varsity College 35
Tries:
T Ramaloko, F Marx, J Marais, J Steyl, W Coetzee
Conversions:
Marx x5
FNB
UFH 16
Tries:
R Maree
Conversions:
A Sidloyi x1
Penalties:
A Sidyoli x3
