Brakpan overpower ER United
Reigning champions Brakpan embarrassed East Rand United in their second round Valke Peregrine League encounter with a 50-15 drubbing in Reiger Park.
The champions ran away with the game in the second-half, following a tense first stanza. The score at half-time was 14-8 in favour of the visitors.
A big scuffle in the first forced play to be paused as tempers from both sets of players flared, and you can trust the Reiger Park crowd to encourage a fight.
Unlike United, Brakpan capitalised on the key moments of the game and that was, ultimately, where the absorbing encounter was won and lost.
United actually led 8-7 moments before the half-time break, but they failed to hold onto their lead, as the league leaders scored a converted try right before the half-time whistle – a key moment.
Regardt Botha’s men struck another blow soon after the second-half kick-off, with another converted try, to stretch their lead to 21-8 – another key moment and a demoralising blow for United.
The champions had every answer to United’s weapons, particularly their pace, as they left little space for United to exploit.
They also controlled ball possession in most parts of the game. In a mouth-watering battle from the outside, United’s flyer and top-scorer, Cameron Lentoor, had finally met his match in the league’s top-scorer of last year, Leon ”Sweef” Potgieter.
With the game all but lost, United were on the attack with a promising move and Lentoor found himself in space – he left some Brakpan defenders in his wake and was well on his way to score, but was sensationally closed in on and tackled out of play by Potgieter.
With United strangled from the inside channel, they were forced to take play to the wings, where they made numerous and telling mistakes.
Their runners were isolated and Brakpan repeatedly capitalised on turnover ball. The visitors’ killer instinct took over and the flood gates opened on their way to the handsome win.
Replacement back Monde Kinana and Dustin Losch scored the tries for the home side, with Lentoor kicking over one conversion and one penalty.
“We played the big two (Brakpan and Vereeniging) in two consecutive games and, after the Vereeniging loss, we got too confident,” explained United coach Derrick Sampson.
“We walked into the Brakpan game with the same mentality, forgetting that Brakpan are no Vereeniging.
“They closed down our wingers and turned the ball over and that’s how they scored their tries. Individual play dominated our play and you can’t win like that; if we want to win we have to play as a team.
“We made silly mistakes and had 10 penalties which we didn’t convert – that’s 30 points. Brakpan won and they did so fair and square.” – @SabeloBoksburg
