Unam beat Falcons in dull match

UNAM Rugby Club scored a converted try and two penalties to beat Reho Falcons 13-3 in a Premier League match at the Unam stadium on Saturday, which both teams would quickly want to forget.

Handling errors, aimless kicking and wrong options marred the game from start to finish. In the 18th minute, Unam’s wing Elroy Diergaardt kicked yet another speculative kick towards Falcons’ 22-metre line and the bounce of the ball deceived everyone in the Falcons backline.Diergaardt followed up, collected the ball and passed it to his hooker, Justin Beukes, who beautifully sidestepped to beat two Falcon defenders and dive over.Marques Bezuidenhoudt successfully converted.Unam continued to attack and in the 35th minute, Falcons conceded yet another penalty.This time it was bang in front and Bezuidenhout’s kick made the score 10-0.Unam, now very confident, tried to run the ball from the restart but John Drotske was immediately penalised for holding on, right in front of the posts.Falcons’ scrumhalf Desmond Snyders succeeded with the penalty.The second half was fairly uneventful.Falcons’ hard work in the second half was undone by many handling errors close to the goal line.The only points came from Elroy Diergaardt who successfully kicked a penalty in the dying minutes of the half after Gordon Slammet held on to the ball on the ground.Snyders was Falcons’ only outstanding player, while scrumhalf Naas Diergaardt was the outstanding player for Unam with intelligent kicks and breaks from around the rucks.His distribution was also better than the previous week against Western Suburbs.Falcons clearly missed their seven first-team players picked for the national sevens team who left for the Commonwealth Games in Australia over the weekend.Falcons had to improvise with Phillipus Isaacks, normally a hooker, playing at number eight and their regular fullback, Snyders, playing at scrumhalf.Veteran scrumhalf Gerhard van Wyk, who came on as a lock forward, and Slammet earlier played for the second team.Falcons coach Hakkie Louw said that Falcons are trying to get match fit at the moment and that a win would have been a bonus at this stage.Louw said that circumstances like funerals and players on national duty did not always make it possible to field a first-choice team, but he was nevertheless happy with his team’s performance.In the curtainraiser match, Unam II beat Falcon II 24-23 in an exciting encounter.In the 18th minute, Unam’s wing Elroy Diergaardt kicked yet another speculative kick towards Falcons’ 22-metre line and the bounce of the ball deceived everyone in the Falcons backline.Diergaardt followed up, collected the ball and passed it to his hooker, Justin Beukes, who beautifully sidestepped to beat two Falcon defenders and dive over.Marques Bezuidenhoudt successfully converted.Unam continued to attack and in the 35th minute, Falcons conceded yet another penalty.This time it was bang in front and Bezuidenhout’s kick made the score 10-0.Unam, now very confident, tried to run the ball from the restart but John Drotske was immediately penalised for holding on, right in front of the posts.Falcons’ scrumhalf Desmond Snyders succeeded with the penalty.The second half was fairly uneventful.Falcons’ hard work in the second half was undone by many handling errors close to the goal line.The only points came from Elroy Diergaardt who successfully kicked a penalty in the dying minutes of the half after Gordon Slammet held on to the ball on the ground.Snyders was Falcons’ only outstanding player, while scrumhalf Naas Diergaardt was the outstanding player for Unam with intelligent kicks and breaks from around the rucks.His distribution was also better than the previous week against Western Suburbs.Falcons clearly missed their seven first-team players picked for the national sevens team who left for the Commonwealth Games in Australia over the weekend.Falcons had to improvise with Phillipus Isaacks, normally a hooker, playing at number eight and their regular fullback, Snyders, playing at scrumhalf.Veteran scrumhalf Gerhard van Wyk, who came on as a lock forward, and Slammet earlier played for the second team.Falcons coach Hakkie Louw said that Falcons are trying to get match fit at the moment and that a win would have been a bonus at this stage.Louw said that circumstances like funerals and players on national duty did not always make it possible to field a first-choice team, but he was nevertheless happy with his team’s performance.In the curtainraiser match, Unam II beat Falcon II 24-23 in an exciting encounter.