Rugby
Heimat crowned Koshuis rugby champs─── 08:47 Tue, 08 Apr 2014
Heimat became the third Steinhoff Koshuis Rugby Championship winners from UFS in as many seasons when they beat Patria 20-12 in the final in Potchefstroom on Monday.
Heimat ran in four tries to two to secure the trophy for the first time, and to make it five winners from the University of the Free State in the seven years of the competition - Vishuis have won it three times and Huis Armentum once.
There was a massive crowd packed in at the Fanie du Toit Sports Ground, as the NWU-Pukke supporters had arrived early for the Varsity Cup final which was to follow.
Heimat flew out of the blocks and immediately exerted pressure on the hosts by dominating possession in the early exchanges, which silenced the home fans.
The UFS koshuis side sent a message of dominance up front when they won penalties at the first two scrums. They kicked to touch and their first attempt to score was held up, but they made their dominance count when inside centre Vossie van Straaten crashed over in the right hand corner after seven minutes. Flyhalf Darren Barron’s conversion attempt was wide.
Just four minutes later van Straaten was in for another try, after Heimat sent in wide from a scrum in the Patria 22 and right wing Nakkie Naude offloaded a great pass off the ground to send van Straaten over the same corner once more. Barron missed the tricky conversion.
The home side finally got some ball to play with and won a penalty inside Heimat’s 22 after 20 minutes, which they decided to kick for touch and setup a line-out. They used the maul but it failed to amount to anything as the visitors were able to turn the ball over.
Heimat’s ability to make turnovers remained prominent as scrumhalf Chapo Cilliers stole the ball inside his own half and raced away down the right wing. The ball made it’s way to lock Chris Du Randt but a fantastic try-saving tackle from Patria right wing Denver Mororua bundled him into touch.
The tide started to turn towards the NWU koshuis side and Patria managed to open their account in the 30th minute when fullback Louis Vorster kicked a penalty to cut the deficit to eight. 10-2 to Heimat.
Just three minutes later, the Patria backs linked up well as OJ Labuschagne went on a strong run and offloaded to Mororua. The ball was recycled quickly and nippy scrumhalf Richard Webber broke away to go over in the corner. The kick was missed and Heimat led 10-7 at half-time.
Patria had a chance to cut Heimat’s lead to to one point soon after the break but Vorster missed the simple penalty attempt. However, the home side soon made amends when their captain Niël van Vuuren barged over from close range to score to put Patria into the lead for the first time. They led 12-10 after 45 minutes.
Heimat struck back in the 53th minute when they used turnover ball quickly and sent it wide for outside centre and captain Willie de Jager to dot down. The conversion attempt was missed but the men from Free State had a 15-12 lead with 15 minutes left.
The visitors started to dominate possesion and territory and a great inside ball from Barron sent Johan Kotze over next to the poles with four minutes to play, but the flyhalf missed the conversion - making it 20-12 to Heimat.
Patria threw everything at Heimat in the closing stages but the UFS students’ defence held firm and they continued to force turnovers and penalties to help them hold on for a deserved victory.
The scorers:
Patria: Tries: Webber, van Vuuren Pens: Vorster.
Heimat: Tries: van Straaten 2, de Jager, Kotze.
Teams:
Patria: 15 Louis Vorster, 14 Denver Murorua, 13 Koos du Plooy, 12 Jaco de Klerk, 11 OJ Labuschagne, 10 Duart Teessen, 9 Richard Webber, 8 Marnus Gerber, 7 Elandre Jansen van Rensburg, 6 Berto Kleynhans, 5 Corman Scheepers, 4 Ru-el de Wet, 3 Francois Taljaard, 2 Deon Stols, 1 Niël van Vuuren.
Replacements: 16 Emil Meyer, 17 Louis Wannenburg, 18 Siegfried Bosman, 19 Tienie van Wyk, 20 Bennie Genis, 21 Riaan Brummer, 22 Christian Serfontein, 23 Lourens Steytler.
Heimat: 15 Francois Crous, 14 Nakkie Naude, 13 Willie de Jager, 12 Vossie van Straaten, 11 Johan Kotze, 10 Darren Baron, 9 Chapo Cilliers, 8 Egbert Ras, 7 Riaan Schoeman, 6 James Prinsloo, 5 Chris Du Randt, 4 Ramon Lillie, 3 CJ van Zyl, 2 Jacques Steyn, 1 BJ Koortzen.
Replacements: 16 Anthony Macdonald, 17 Jandre Jacobs, 18 Raymond Woest, 19 Benjamin Jansen van Vuuren, 20 Kobie Van der Walt, 21 Fouche Germishuys, 22 Marinus van der Merwe, 23 Darius Zeelie.
Referee: Francois Pretorius
