In what was an exciting affair at Shimla Park, the Shimlas beat the team from Johannesburg with a 26-25 win to hand them their first defeat of the campaign.

The Player that Rocked, Kwezi Dlamini, opened the scoring in the 4th minute, but Wits responded almost immediately with a try by the hooker, Dameon Venter.

Nkoka Ngobe scored a second try for the hosts, but Wits levelled matters with the flyhalf Christian Humphries running almost the entire length of the park for a seven-point try.

The pivot converted his own try and landed two penalties for a 20-14 lead at the break.

Dlamini completed his brace early in the second half to keep the Shimlas, but it was a Pierre Uys try that gave the Shimlas the lead.

Gerswin Mouton scored for Wits at the death, however, the conversion attempt by Humphries shaved the upright and the score remained 26-25.

Dlamini told OFM Sport that after their heavy defeat a week prior they had to work more as a team to return to winning ways.

“We've been working hard for the past week after we had a loss against the North West University Eagles and we had to regroup,” said the live-wire flanker.

“We had to regather ourselves, pull tight as a team and work towards one goal and that is what we did.

“We always work against ourselves and we do concede tries. We concede tries by making our own errors, so we need to brush up on that. Once we do that we will get better.”

The Shimlas hit the road again next week for their third away match of the season as they will face the University of Cape Town Ikeys at the Green Mile in the Mother City.

Scorers:

Shimlas: Tries – Kwezi Dlamini 2, Nkoka Ngobe, Pierre Uys Conv. – Ethan Wentzel 3

Wits: Tries - Dameon Venter, Christian Humphries, Gerswin Mouton Conv. – Humphries Pen. – Humphries 2

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport