Week one of the 2012 Carlton club rugby kicked-off Saturday with easy wins for UP-Tuks, Centurion and Harlequins, against Oostelike Eagles, TUT and the Silver Valke respectively.
The game of the day, that could have gone either way, was between Naka Bulls and Police which the latter won narrowly, reports Johanna de Vos.
Quite a big number of players changed clubs this year. This is not a new thing, but it is more than in the past.
Saturday the whole of Pretoria must have felt the rumblings of the war game between Naka Bulls and Police battling it out in the Moot. Two great sides locking horns did not give each other an inch, and the tackles were out of this world.
Naka Bulls “welcomed” the policemen for this tough encounter, which turned out to be a close encounter. Halftime Police were safely ahead (26-6) ... or so they thought.
Second half started so-so, until like a lightning bolt, the Naka Bulls exploded and ran in three tries in succession. If it was not for the final whistle, the outcome might have been different. The final score 29-27.
Police’s top winger of previous years and who was also the only real policeman in their team, Cristefer Snyman, has gone back to the Western Cape where he now plays his club-rugby.
UP-Tuks, playing at home, smashed the newcomers to the competition, Oostelike Eagles, quite easily with an n astounding tidal-wave final score of 101-9. Halftime 38-9.
The students ran in fifteen tries of which they converted thirteen. About eight Varsity Cup players remained in the team while the others are now playing in the Blue Bulls Vodacom side, but it appears they were not missed.
Centurion who boosted their side with some new acquisitions, made mince meat of the University of Technology TUT. Halftime 19-0. Fulltime score 66-0.
Centurion ran in six tries to absolutely nothing from TUT. The latter had no answer to this onslaught.
TUT lost more than half of their Varsity Cup players who left for greener pastures. Some of their stars went to the Griffons (Hansie Graaff), KZN (Zandré Grobler), Ruan van Loo and others went to other clubs.
It is with a sad heart to remember that this is the same club who won the Carlton Cup four times (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005) and lost in two finals (2006, 2008). Their u.21 beat Centurion u.21 33-10.
Harlequins also had a relatively easy game against the depleted Silver Valke, at home in Groenkloof. They scored six tries to the one of the opposition. The final score was 36 10. Halftime 17-3.
The stars from last year: Roland Syphus and Carl Labuschagne are still Quins. “Once a Quin, always a Quin”.
Silver Valke’s previous coach relocated to Naka Bulle in the off-season – and a lot of players followed. Fortunately, the club from Silverton, like TUT, has a very strong u.21 team. This u.21 team white-washed Harlequins 32-0.
Logs:
WEEK 1 14 April 2012
P W L D T/F T/A P/F P/A P/D B/P L/P
Tuks 1 1 0 0 15 0 101 9 92 1 5
Centurion 1 1 0 0 10 0 66 0 66 1 5
Harlequins 1 1 0 0 6 1 36 10 26 1 5
Police 1 1 0 0 4 3 29 27 2 1 5
Naka Bulls 1 0 1 0 3 4 27 29 -2 1 1
Silver Valke 1 0 1 0 1 6 10 36 -26 0 0
TUT 1 0 1 0 0 10 0 66 -66 0 0
Ooste Eagles 1 0 1 0 0 15 9 101 -92 0 0
Fixtures for Friday-night 20h00 (subject to change):
Naka Bulls vs UP-Tuks
Centurion vs Oostelike Eagles
TUT vs Harlequins
Silver Valke vs Police
