{"id":14107,"date":"2023-03-19T18:43:17","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T16:43:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rugby.supersportschools.com\/?p=14107"},"modified":"2023-03-19T18:43:17","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T16:43:17","slug":"rusties-on-top-against-montana-in-epic-battle-in-nwu-prestige-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=14107","title":{"rendered":"Rusties on top against Montana in epic battle in NWU Prestige Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-7910\" src=\"https:\/\/rugby.supersportschools.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/NewsGMontana-300x273.jpg\" alt=\"NewsGMontana\" width=\"400\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/NewsGMontana-300x273.jpg 300w, https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/NewsGMontana.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>Ho\u00ebrskool Rustenberg<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> held on to a 24-20 win over <\/span><b>Montana<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in an epic battle between the two sides on Thursday in Pretoria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a closely fought match throughout, with Montana showing great improvement since last week\u2019s loss against Die Anker in Brakpan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Monties managed to keep the game close with tries by <\/span><b>Liam de Villiers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (winger), <\/span><b>Divan Nel<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (fullback) and replacement, <\/span><b>Reuben van Hammersveld<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>Rigard van Rensburg<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (flyhalf) who also added five with a penalty and a conversion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Rusties still looked as dangerous as last weekend though, and they were able to capitalize on loose play, scoring four tries courtesy of <\/span><b>Johan Retief <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(hooker), <\/span><b>Carlo van Wijk<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (prop), <\/span><b>MC Smit <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(winger) and <\/span><b>JG Steenberg <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Nr. 8).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, it was the two conversions, the first taken by the flyhalf<\/span><b> Duquan (Awie) Alberts<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the second by the winger<\/span><b> Lorenzo Snyers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, that separated these two teams on the day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This result sees Rustenburg go two from two, which is exactly the kind of start they would have wanted, Montana, on the other hand, will still take motivation from their improvement and look forward to their next fixture against Hugenote in Springs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Middelburg<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>Zwartkop<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> played in an exciting matchup which saw Middelburg emerge victorious by 25-12.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zwartkop played with immense character, keeping the game relatively tight up to the 58th minute, with <\/span><b>Wihan van der Berg<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (centre) and <\/span><b>Stiaan Bekker<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (winger) managing to score.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even after Middies seemed to have pulled away, committed Zwartkop defenders were still chasing down breaks and putting in try-saving tackles, never losing hope.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Van der Berg and fullback, <\/span><b>Kieraan Krotz<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and scrumhalf,<\/span><b> Waldo Smit,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all had great games, and are ones to keep an eye on for the rest of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was Middelburg, however, controlling the game, with flanker, <\/span><b>Ronin van Niekerk<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and no. 8, <\/span><b>Tjaart Joubert<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, causing a lot of trouble for the visitors in the breakdown, and flyhalf,<\/span><b> Divan van der Westhuizen<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, maintaining the pressure with his excellent touch finders, two penalties and two conversions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They were able to take the lead through a try by centre,<\/span><b> Luke Geldenhuys<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in the first half, and build on it in the second, when hooker, <\/span><b>Funani Chauke<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, finished off a well-rehearsed lineout move.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was Joubert, the big nr.8 who scored the final try of the match, picking the ball up at the back of a scrum and breaking around it with nobody to stop him in sight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Die Anker<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> proved to be too powerful for <\/span><b>Hugenote<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, managing to get six tries against the visitors without a response.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Benton Giessing<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, their playmaker flyhalf, has now scored four tries in two matches and seems to be playing at the top of his game this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defending champs, <\/span><b>Noordheuwel<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, were simply too strong for <\/span><b>Oosterlig<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, beating the visitors by 55-10.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Oosterlig boys were overrun in the first half but also showed character to get their scrumhalf, <\/span><b>Jaco du Toit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, over the line in the second.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Scorers:<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Ho\u00ebrskool Rustenburg 24 &#8211;<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Tries: Johan Retief, Carlo van Wijk, MC Smit, JG Steenberg. Conversions: Duquan Alberts, Lorenzo Snyers. <\/span><b>Montana 20 &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tries: Liam de Villiers, Reuben van Hammersveld, Divan Nel. Conversion: Rigard van Rensburg. Penalty: Van Rensburg.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Ho\u00ebrskool Middelburg 25 (13) &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tries: Fumani Chauke, Tjaart Joubert, Luke Geldenhuis. Conversions: Divan van der Westhuizen (2). Penalties: Van der Westhuizen (2). <\/span><b>Zwartkop 12 (7) &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tries: Wihan van der Berg, Stiaan Bekker. Conversion: Crawford Joubert.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Die Anker 36 &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tries: Benton Giessing (2), Branden Crous, Divan du Plooy, Duhan du Plessis, Damien Muller. Conversions: Branden Crous (3). <\/span><b>Hugenote 0.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Noordheuwel 55 &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tries: Janemo Luiters (3), Divan Cruywagen, Juan Fourie, Marshall de Vos, Jeandr\u00e9 de Villiers, Coun-Lee Koekman, Ludie Schutte. Conversions: JT Kapank (5). <\/span><b>Oosterlig 10 &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Try: Jaco du Toit. Conversion: Caiden Serfontein. Penalty: Serfontein.<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ho\u00ebrskool Rustenberg held on to a 24-20 win over Montana in an epic battle between the two sides on Thursday in Pretoria. It was a closely fought match throughout, with Montana showing great improvement since last week\u2019s loss against Die Anker in Brakpan. Monties managed to keep the game close with tries by Liam de [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}