Demas double snatches win for Boland
Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:24
The Boland Cavaliers scored a nail-biting 31-29 win over the Falcons in a Currie Cup match at Boland Stadium in Wellington on Friday, after trailing 7-19 at the interval.
It was a jubilant Boland side that jumped into the air when the final whistle went, but things could have been very different a minute earlier, as the Falcons made a mess of things when Poerie van Rooyen missed a straight-foward penalty and left wing Ernie Kruger was stopped close to the try-line.
Although it was a great fightback by the Cavaliers, they never looked like a winning side until the final minutes.
Loosehead prop Jean Botha opened the scoring for Boland with a try in the 17th minute for fullback Justin Peach to convert.
In the 21st minute the Falcons hit back when left wing Ernie Kruger scored after good handling by die backs. Flyhalf Jeff Perkins succeeded with the conversion to level the scores at 7-7.
Five minute before half-time poor defence allowed Kruger to score his second try which Perkins converted from close to the touchline.
The Falcons increased their lead to 19-7 when flank Reg Muller scored in the 41st minute. This was also the half-time score and the Cavaliers seemed to be a beaten side.
But the home team hit back two minutes into the second half when scrumhalf Marnus Hugo ran blind to score in the corner.
The Falcons increased their lead to 24-12 when lock Marius Coetzer fell on the ball when the entire Falcons pack drove Boland over their goal-line.
In the 17th minute replacement scrumhalf Neil Papier scored close to the posts for Isma-eel Dollie to convert.
Dewald Pretorius increased the Falcons's lead to 29-19 with a another fine try by the visitors.
But Boland produced a remarkable comeback in the last ten minutes, with right wing Danwel Demas scoring twice, and Peach converting the last try in the dying seconds for the unlikely win.
Scorers:
For Boland:
Tries: Botha, Hugo, Papier, Demas 2
Cons: Peach 2, Dollie
For the Falcons:
Tries: Kruger 2, Muller, Coetzer, Pretorius
Cons: Perkins 2
Teams:
Boland Cavaliers: 15 Justin Peach, 14 Danwel Demas, 13 Piet van Zyl (captain), 12 Lionel Cornelius, 11 Alvin Hugo, 10 Isma-eel Dollie, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Dries van Schalkwyk, 7 Whalied Heyns, 6 Zolani Mofu, 5 Bradley Mockford, 4 Nico Esterhuyze, 3 WP Nel, 2 Clemen Lewis, 1 Jean Botha.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Wium, 17 Janro van Niekerk, 18 Cecil Kemp, 19 Angelo Brinkhuys, 20 Neil Papier, 21 Kobus Meintjes, 22 Elgar Watts.
Falcons: 15 Johan Jackson, 14 Ernie Kruger, 13 Rouan Cloete, 12 Hanno Coetzee, 11 Dewald Pretorius, 10 Len Olivier, 9 Gerrie Odendaal, 8 Sean Plaatjies, 7 Reg Muller, 6 Warren Perkins, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Wouter
Moore, 3 Nico Pretorius, 2 Jody Jeneker, 1 Frik Venter.
Replacements: 16 Gavin Whittingham, 17 Rassie van Vuuren, 18 Rayno Barnes, 19 Ruhan van Jaarsveld, 20 Johan de Bruin, 21 Poerie van Rooyen, 22 Jeff Perkins.
Referee: Deon van Blommestein
Touch judges: Jerome America, Linston Manuels
SAPA
