It was tough going for Union’s rugby teams in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, 20 July.
Playing in ice-cold weather against tough opposition, the teams recorded the following results in their encounter against Person High School: the u/14As lost 3 – 43, the u/15As lost 7 – 51, the u/16As lost 5 – 34, the second tea lost 0- 62 and the 1st XV lost 5 – 53.
Despite the results, the Union boys showed great character and fight in every game that was played and stayed true to showing …great sportsmanship.
The 1st XV knew they were in for an epic battle and took the field well prepared and ready for the clash. The first half lived up to expectations and both sides gave everything they had with hard running attack and big-hitting defence. Union, unfortunately, had two lapses in defence and allowed Pearson to cross the line twice – this proved to be the only scoring opportunities in this half, as Union’s defence stood strong for what remained of the first half. Union went into the break 12 – 0 down and still very much in the game.
The second half, however, proved to be very different – the Union team was unable to curb the flow of attacks from Pearson who were able to hold on to possession better than the Union team. In the end, the Pearson team proved too strong.
Despite the scoreline, the Union boys gave it their all and never backed down.
They showed tremendous character, managing to hold onto the ball at stages and in the end, the best passage of play came in the last 5 to 10 minutes, where Union put together some wonderful phases and running rugby, managing to cross the line through Cleathon Koeberg.
Although the encounter didn’t deliver the desired results, good lessons were learned.