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Rustenburg takes the Gold Cup

In sweltering heat at the in Rustenburg they outplayed False Bay 48-24 in front of a 5,000-strong passionate home crowd.

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The victory completed a dream season for Rustenburg Impala, who played in their third successive final, as they remained unbeaten and scored four tries or more in each of their matches.

They won the national club title in 2014, but stumbled against Durbanville-Bellville in a home Final last season – which saw them go down 30-31.

While False Bay will be disappointed by their defeat, they will draw immense confidence from the season – as their participation in the Gold Cup marked their maiden national tournament after claiming their first WP Grand Challenge title in 44 years.

Rustenburg takes the Gold CupThe teams took a few minutes to find their rhythm after kick-off as the temperature lingered close to 40 degrees Celsius in Rustenburg.

False Bay showed their intent early on by running hard at the hosts, and their dominance on attack earned them three opportunities to slot over penalty goals in first 11 minutes. However all three attempts were unsuccessful.

Their determined efforts to open up their account, however, paid off in the 17th minute thanks to a well-worked try by left wing Mustaqeem Jappie – who kicked the ball through from a turnover and gathered it to score, which handed the Capetonians a 7-0 lead.

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Rustenburg Impala hit back with a try two minutes later as wing Dumisani Matyeshana crossed the tryline after receiving the ball out wide, but the unsuccessful conversion left them trailing 5-7.

His teammate, No.8 Leon du Plessis, added the team's second try 10 minutes later as he crashed through a bunch of defenders to dot down the ball, but False Bay reduced the deficit to two points with their first penalty goal by fullback Adriaan Osman.

Impala had the final say in the half as Matyeshana rounded off another fantastic team try, which pushed them 17-10 ahead.

They had an opportunity to score their fourth try on the stroke of half-time, but a knock-on denied them.

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The hosts wasted no time adding to their score in the second half as flank Justin Wheeler crossed the tryline two minutes after play resumed, which flyhalf Cecil Dumond backed up with two tries in three minutes.

The team built on this fine form which saw centre Justin St Jerry and Wheeler added two more tries to take their tally for the match to eight.

In turn False Bay were only able to add two second-half tries – compliments of Dylon Frylinck and Ashley Wells.

This secured a well-deserved 48-24 victory for Rustenburg Impala.

In a fitting end to the competition, meanwhile, the manager, coach, forward, back and club player of the year were named before the trophy handover.

Durbanville-Bellville's Peter Virgin was named the team manager of the year, Alrico Beukes of Evergreens club coach of the year, Tythan Adams of College Rovers backline player of the year, Brakpan's Ian Oosthuizen forward of the year, and Leon du Plessis of Rustenburg Impala club player of the year.

This is the second year in a row that Du Plessis wins the player of the year award.

Scorers:

For Rustenburg Impala:

Tries: Dumond 2, Matyeshana 2, St Jerry, Wheeler 2, Du Plessis

Cons: Dumond

Pen: Van Biljon

For False Bay:

Tries: Wells, Frylinck, Jappie

Cons: Osman 2, Claassen

Teams:

 

Rustenburg Impala: 15 Xolani Nkosi, 14 Dumisani Matyeshana, 13 Justin St Jerry, 12 Berto van Wyk, 11 Maverick van der Merwe, 10 Cecil Dumond, 9 Nico Kruger, 8 Leon du Plessis, 7 Justin Wheeler (captain), 6 Tiaan Prinsloo, 5 Tiaan Nel, 4 Robbie Rawlins, 3 Zander de Kock, 2 Bruce Muller, 1 Louis Hollamby.

Replacements: 16 Gavin Williamson, 17 Ivann Espag, 18 Joe Engelbrecht, 19 JP le Grange, 20 Stefan Kruger, 21 Francois van Biljon, 22 McDonald Duma.

 

False Bay: 15 Adnaan Osman, 14 Danie Roux, 13 Byron Mohr, 12 Riaan O'Neill, 11 Mustaqeem Jappie, 10 Andri Claassen, 9 Mohammed Damon, 8 Ryan Olivier, 7 Justin van Winkel, 6 Aiden Monk, 5 Brandon Wood, 4 Graham Knoop (captain), 3 Ashley Wells, 2 Andre van Vuuren, 1 Wesley Futter.

Replacements: 16 Dasch Barber, 17 Royal Mwale, 18 Willie Coetzee, 19 Curtley Johnson, 20 Dylon Frylinck, 21 Jason Pretorius, 21 Roemark Smith.

 

Referee: Jaco van Heerden

Assistant referees: Jaco Pretorius, Paul Mente

TMO: Johan Greeff

Rustenburg takes the Gold Cup

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