Day: 9 May 2022

This past weekend, Saturday, 7 May, Union High School’s 1st XV played at home against Hoërskool Kirkwood.

Despite rainy and wet conditions, it was lovely for all the players to play at home, after having played their previous two fixtures away. Union started the match on a positive note, putting Kirkwood under a lot of pressure. Unfortunately, final passes being knocked on, stopped Union from scoring a few early tries.

Kirkwood took advantage of Union’s mistakes and, after a sequence of penalties conceded, claimed an early 0 – 7 lead.

Union, however, stuck to their guns. Their line-outs were much improved from the previous fixture and this was used well as an attacking platform. After a line-out deep in Kirkwood territory, Union set up a couple of phases, and, after Kirkwood got sucked in, Union played wide and scored their 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝘼𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤 𝘾𝙚𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙤.

𝘼 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙗𝙮 𝘽𝙪𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙞 from the restart ensured Union made no unnecessary errors and retained ball possession. After continuous pressure, Union was awarded a penalty. 𝘼 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙡-𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙈𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚 𝙃𝙡𝙤𝙮𝙞 resulted in Union leading 10 – 7 at half time.

Union started the second half much the same as they did the first, but the wet conditions made handling tough and knocked a few balls on with open try lines.

After sustained pressure, Union scored their 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙎𝙞𝙮𝙖 𝘽𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙬𝙚, which was 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙞 𝙎𝙠𝙚𝙥𝙚. Hlaki also slotted a penalty on the stroke of final play. Union won the match 20 – 7.

“𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 1𝘴𝘵 𝘟𝘝 𝘣𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘒𝘪𝘳𝘬𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 – 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵!”– 𝗠𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘅, 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝟭𝘀𝘁 𝗫𝗩 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵.