Match Report: Saturday 14th January 2006
Richmond Saxons (18) vs LSA (12)
Rustiness leads to disappointing defeat at Richmond....
LSA kicked of the second half of their inaugural season against league leaders Richmond. Due to the absence of some first team players LSA had unsuccessfully sought a postponement of the game – Richmond had declined.
The first period of the game saw some close exchanges from both sides with neither gaining the upper hand. The seven week lay-off for Christmas was evident but LSA worked hard all over the field to try and get on top.
15 minutes in and LSA were called upon to defend very well from some good Richmond attacks. These were followed by a penalty to LSA when a good driving maul was brought down - Tiaan Coetzee narrowly missed the chance to put LSA 3 points ahead. The miss was to prove costly as shortly after the restart Richmond were awarded a penalty of their own near halfway and some sloppy LSA defence allowed their fullback clean through to score and allow Richmond to take a 5 – 0 lead.
Richmond were immediately on the attack again as LSA too often kicked poorly and allowed their opponents the chance to run good counter attacking ball back at them. Having repelled one attack 5 metres out, with skipper Carl van der Walt leading from the front, LSA eventually conceded another penalty in front of the posts. Richmond had no problem in taking the chance to forge further ahead 8 – 0.
Unfortunately LSA were still spilling too much ball and kicking poorly, perhaps a not altogether surprising result having not played or trained since the Christmas break began on December 3rd. Throughout though, Mike Kuipers was his usual abrasive self and worked hard in centre of things to regain some parity. LSA could only find trouble though, once such foray forward just inside the LSA half led to a quick turnover to Richmond and they wasted no time in exploiting the blind side with a good solo try from 40 yards out putting the home side 13 – 0 up with 10 minutes to go to half time.
LSA finally began to show some of their pre-Christmas form when they kept the ball in hand. They strung a number of attacks together and eventually gained good field position in the Richmond half with the put-in to the scrum. A superb pass from the base by John Turner allowed the talented back line to work the move of the match - an excellent break by Carl van der Walt who fed full back Tiaan Coetzee to glide over on the corner to make the score 13 – 5 at half time.
A couple of enforced changes at half time saw Andrew Field and Tiaan Visser join the action. LSA made a good start to the second half. Three minutes in and they were already putting pressure on Richmond. The forwards were working hard to drive upfield and JT manufactured a great kick to put LSA into a good position for an attack. The line out was working well despite the changes of personnel. 10 minutes in and Warren Ross Allan replaced Mark Otto in the back row.
The pressure exerted by LSA was growing and approaching the midpoint of the half Richmond began to make more and more mistakes turning over possession to LSA again. With 20 minutes to go LSA made two more changes with Tiaan Coetzee and Bevan Williams making way for David Blackburn and Iestyn Williams to join the back three and try and unlock a solid Richmond defence.
Not long after the changes the forwards make a great drive upfield setting up good quick ball for the backs who were quick to use the width of the field well. David Blackburn hit the line hard and cut inside the cover defence to score a vital try which was converted by LSA to bring the scores to 13 – 12 and in doing so set up a fantastic last 15 minutes.
LSA were surging forward again and again and another great drive by Mike Kuipers and the forwards was taken on by Aldo du Plessis and Warren Ross Allan. A penalty to LSA for a Richmond offence led to LSA opting for the kick to the corner. From the lineout the forwards drove over the line for what was a good try – sadly the referee did not see the ball being grounded.
For the next 5 minutes LSA literally camped on the Richmond line but could not make the pressure tell. With 5 minutes remaining Richmond managed to break out and force a scrum near the LSA line from which they scored a pushover try to leave the final score of 18 – 12. A disappointing result for a lot of LSA endeavour and a great comeback.
Starting XV
James Saunders, Tom Modinger, Aldo du Plessis, Ryan Williamson, Jake Hoddinot, Mike Kuipers, Mark Otto, John Turner, Matt Fendick, Carl van der Walt, Nick Osman, Tiaan Coetzee, Bevan Williams, Nick de Kock
Replacements
David Blackburn, Iestyn Williams, Chris Burrows, Daniel van Rensburg, Tiaan Visser, Andrew Field, Warren Ross-Allan
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