Battle lines drawn with Collegians set to face Terriers

THE Castle Murray Cup finals day at Ranleigh Crescent – home of PhotoNote Crusaders – in Durban North on Saturday will bring down the curtain for KZNRU rugby clubs as they prepare to do battle for the knockout trophies.

SA Home Loans Durban Collegians cruised into to the final of the Murray Cup when they beat home side Varsity College 50-20 at Riverside in Durban North in their semi-final clash last Saturday. They will meet the South Coast Terriers from Amanzimtoti in the final after they edged out the students from FNB UKZN Impi 25-19 in a much closer contested semifinal at the Peter Booysen Stadium in the capital.

Durban Collegians, playing the more expansive game, went on to score six tries to three in their victory march into the final, and never really looked in any trouble, playing some entertaining running rugby.

Their backs looked dangerous with ball in hand, but nonetheless one still has to give huge credit to Varsity College as they fought back bravely in the second half. When one considers that Collegians won the first half 25-3, the home side can hold their heads high as they made a real game of it in the second half, going down 2517.

The game, however, sadly produced a red card, which perhaps was a bit harsh, and three yellows, but still ended up producing a number of entertaining moments, with the Collegians tries coming from flank Francoise Kleinhans, wings Justin Newman and Sipho Mkize, centre Brad Ellse, who was a shade unlucky not to win the Castle Man of the Match award, substitute loose forward Carl Marks and Matt Reece-Edwards, coming off the bench.

The rest of their points came from the boots of Duncan Campbell and his replacement, Mondi Nkosi.

Varsity College, largely made up of U19 and U21 players, replied with tries from scrumhalf Wihan von Wielligh, flying winger Bennie Mashabane and prop Beast Buthelezi, with flyhalf Duran Krummeck kicking a conversion and a penalty.

Had Krummick been on target with a few more kicks, the score line could have looked a lot healthier for the losers.

Durban Collegians No 8 Gareth Reece-Edwards was the Man of the Match.

In the capital, the Toti side had to work a lot harder to get through to the final against a never-say-die student side from UKZN Impi.

The South Coast Terriers were up 14-0 at the interval, only to see the fiery students come at them in the second half, and with the score on 1714, it was anyone’s game.

Amanzimtioti managed to hold on in the end, with both sides scoring three tries, the difference being only the more successful goal-kicking by the victors.

Kevin Buck from Toti was named Man of the Match.

Meanwhile, in the Junior Murray Cup semi-finals, Vryheid came close to causing yet another major upset against Mancosa Zululand Rhinos at Mick Kelly Park in Empangeni, with the home side eventually eking out the narrowest of victories, winning 24-23 in a game that could have gone either way.

Rhinos will now meet last year’s winners of the Junior Murray Cup, Land Rover Durban Hillcrest, who beat Westville Old Boys 24-8 in their semi-final match.

So it will be all to play for on finals day this Saturday, with the opening match kicking off at 10.30am between The Burning Spears from Cleremont and either Amabubeshi or Seskahona in the final of the Ashley Bowles Cup, showcasing the progress in the development of rugby in KZN.