Noord-Kaap book place in central final
Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:13
Captain Divan Strauss in action for Noord-Kaap
Hoërskool Noord-Kaap booked their place in the News24 Central Regions final with an emphatic 41-19 win over Bloemfontein's HTS Louis Botha on Saturday.
Noord-Kaap put in a strong and workman-like performance against Louis Botha on their beloved Pirates home pitch. The Kimberley team took the early lead in the match thanks to a penalty from flyhalf and points - machine Johandre van der Walt.
Despite a sneaky try by Louis Botha by their captain, Oscar Limani, it was clear that Noord-Kaap held the upper hand over their opponents. The home team were just too smart and their outstanding defence once again proved to be too difficult for the Bloemfontein side to breach.
Captain Divan Strauss was a giant on defence and left more than one attacker either without oxygen or without the willpower to continue after massive hits. Louis Botha were busy at scrum-time but they were unable to gain parity in any other facet of play.
Well-worked tries by wing Darren Koopman, eighthman Deon Carney and flank Jonathan Africa, saw Noord-Kaap leading 21-7 at the break.
After the restart, the home-team upped the tempo even further and outplayed the visitors in almost every aspect. Africa crossed the tryline again and outside centre Dean Gorrah rounded off an almost perfect afternoon for himself with a long range try after colleague Koopman intercepted close to the Noord-Kaap tryline.
Van de Walt was successful with two conversions and four penalties, to give him a impressive haul of 16 points for the match. Louis Botha scored another two tries by Thabo Machita and Raymond Parker in the closing minutes, but it was not enough, as Noord-Kaap already had the game sewn up.
Despite the impressive win,the coaches of the Kimberley team will be wary of the fact that their team has taken their foot off the accelerator in the closing minutes of their last two matches.
They have still won well, but they will not be able to get away with any lapses of concentration in the News24 final. There they face a very strong Rooies team from the Afrikaanse Hoërskool Kroonstad, in what should prove to be very tight and tense final between two schools who have enjoyed unbeaten seasons and have spots on the FNB Top rankings.
Scorers:
For Noord-Kaap:
Tries: Africa 2, Koopman, Carney,Gorrah
Cons: vd Walt 2
Pens: vd Walt 4
For Louis Botha:
Tries: Limani, Machita, Parker
Cons: 2
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