Re-match v Trojans doesn’t go entirely to plan....

17 November 2007

By Matt Aristizabal

For the second time in three weeks the Warriors headed down to the south coast to face the Trojans as they re-played the abandoned game from two weeks ago, with both teams needing to be on their best behaviour. In cold and wet weather LSA started well but the conditions proved taxing as the ball was dropped to allow the Trojans’ centre to use his footballing skills to race to the line for an early score.

After exchanging several penalties in the midfield LSA were pinned back in their own half, and Trojans won a penalty near the posts which they kicked to make it 8-0. The Warriors rallied after this and began to dominate with the lion’s share of possession – but again handling errors kept the game from flowing. Despite this LSA started to grind up the pitch through some well taken penalties and on 29 minutes Vaughan Gilson put in Christian Van Rooyen to make it 8-5. From the restart the Trojans almost scored but for some fantastic defence and eventually LSA cleared their line. The weather seemed to be taking its toll as neither side really looked like scoring again and the half-time interval was a welcome break for both teams.

LSA started the second half well - totally dominating possession but the odd mistake kept them from creating any real chances and a penalty in their own half was to prove costly as Trojans took the points. From the restart the Warriors kept their opposition pinned back in their own half, and were beginning to create some good chances. The final pass was lacking however, and possession wasn’t turned into points despite being in some very good positions. On one of the rare occasions that LSA were in their own 22 a long pass went wrong as it was intercepted and the Trojans stretched their lead to 16-5. The Warriors carried on as before quickly moving onto the attack. As the game neared its end it looked as though LSA were to be frustrated but eventually they found the space they needed as Gilson put in Tom Howells. Unfortunately it was to prove too late as the missed conversion was the last action of the game, with it finishing 16 -10.

After the game Head Coach Bob Crooks was unhappy with the result, but pleased with the performance: “What’s annoying is that key decisions broke down for us today, we gave them two tries - the one at the end of the game was a late flourish and we gave the ball away. The opposition didn’t create the win, it was in our control we just needed to sharpen up the finishing. Our pattern and structure was good, we just couldn’t find the final pass.”

This week’s KWV Wines man-of-the-match was Tony Couzens.