Sasol Rugby handed huge defeat by Northam Rhinos
Sasol Grip and Rip Rugby suffered a humiliating 69 – 8 defeat at the hands of Northam Rugby.
The day promised to be a game of good rugby but alas this was not to be. It is with great disappointment that I write my opinion piece about the slaughter that happened on Saturday. It is also with great emotional control that I write this article.
How could a team with such talent and potential, such HEART abandon their spirit to suffer such a defeat? It is perhaps good that I waited a day before writing, emotions would have tainted my report and opinion. Please see this article as my opinion and may not be the same for other supporters.
We, as Sasol Grip and Rip rugby supporters became accustomed to dominating Mpumalanga that we might be forgiven for thinking that we are the best in South Africa. Well, Saturday’s game clearly shows that we still have a long way to go.
Even though I am very disappointed I will not stop supporting Sasol Secunda and believe that we will learn from the past game. But enough about disappointments, let me report on the game. It will not be a friendly read I’m afraid but one that needs to be done.
Sasol took an early lead of 3 – 0 when they converted a penalty
Scrums
Sasol normally dominated every scrum that they did with very few exceptions. Northam Rhinos, however, continually pushed back the strong Sasol Scrum. The Rhinos managed to secure a tighthead or two and spoiled several of the Sasol throw-ins. This placed tremendous pressure on the scrumhalf and flyhalf.
Lineouts
Oh, what to say about the lineouts? The Rhinos dominated the lineouts from the word go. Sasol struggled to find the jumpers resulting in Rhinos stealing the ball before the Sasol jumpers. When the ball was on target, the Rhinos used their forwards effectively to make it very difficult for Sasol to secure clean balls. Sasol could not secure balls on the Rhinos’ throws. The Rhinos drove forward with their front eight pushing Sasol onto their backfoot on nearly every lineout. Sasol was penalised for taking the feet out from under a jumper, something that has never happened that I can recall.
Mauls/Breakdowns
The rhinos dominated the mauls and breakdowns, securing a lot of Sasol’s balls. They were quicker on the loose balls and secured many of Sasol’s balls. The Rhinos managed to push Sasol back on most of the mauls, driving forward with determination and creating opportunities for the backline.
Backline attacks
The backline did not play with the flair that we became accustomed to from Sasol over the years. Only a handful of attacks were worthy of mention. Seldom did we see the handling that was so good in their previous game against Rustenburg Platinum that one had to wonder if a completely new team was on the field. Excitement was high, with the few supporters that made it to the game when the ball was passed to the wings. But alas the penetrating skills were not there.
Defence
I am going to discuss the defence by Sasol as a team as I think that it would be fair. The Rhinos managed to run circles around Sasol. But let’s discuss the way they played man-on-man. The Rhinos managed to bump off most of the frontal tackles made by Sasol. Something not seen often. It took Sasol more than one player to bring the Rhinos player down. This poor defence was seen made by nearly all of Sasol’s players.
The backline attacks by the Rhinos were simply amazing, once they attacked the Sasol backline, they became very difficult to stop, just as Sasol did in their last game. I can only surmise that Sasol gave up on winning long before running onto the field.
The Rhinos’ back would cut the defences like a hot knife through butter. One movement, that was clearly well-practiced, had an attacking player catch the ball from an inside pass and run through the whole Sasol team to score his try.
The poor performance of Sasol as a team overshadowed the courageous efforts of a small handful of players.
There were a few injuries on the field. Two from both sides
Sasol managed a pushover try from a lineout and one penalty was converted.
This game should now be seen as history and all lessons learned in this competition should be taken to the drawing board.
I am very confident that Sasol will not let this game affect their future plans, and I am sure that they will bounce back.
There will be more competitions such as this one and I am sure that Sasol will continue to feature in them. I am also sure that Sasol Secunda Rugby will only grow and continue to be a force to be reckoned with.
We still believe in Sasol Secunda rugby!
Play with HEART!
