Kavaliers fight back the Falcons once more
The Boland Kavaliers once again turned around a significant deficit against the Falcons, this time coming back from 19-7 down at half-time to win 31-29 in the Currie Cup in Wellington on Friday.
The Boland Kavaliers once again turned around a significant deficit against the Falcons, this time coming back from 19-7 down at half-time to win 31-29 in the Currie Cup in Wellington on Friday.
On the opening day of the tournament the Falcons had frittered away a 20-point lead to lose 42-28 in Brakpan, and it was a similar story here.
The Falcons once again have only themselves to blame, as Poerie van Rooyen missed a late straightfoward penalty and left wing Ernie Kruger was stopped close to the try-line.
Although it was a great fightback by the Cavaliers, they never looked like a winning side until the final minutes.
Loosehead prop Jean Botha opened the scoring for Boland with a try in the 17th minute for full-back Justin Peach to convert.
In the 21st minute the Falcons hit back when left wing Ernie Kruger scored after good handling by die backs. Fly-half Jeff Perkins succeeded with the conversion to level the scores at 7-7.
Five minutes before half-time poor defence allowed Kruger to score his second try which Perkins converted from close to the touchline.
The Falcons increased their lead to 19-7 when flank Reg Muller scored in the 41st minute. This was also the half-time score and the Kavaliers seemed to be a beaten side.
But the home team hit back two minutes into the second half when scrum-half Marnus Hugo ran blind to score in the corner.
The Falcons increased their lead to 24-12 when lock Marius Coetzer fell on the ball after the entire Falcons pack drove Boland over their goal-line.
But Kavaliers replacement scrum-half Neil Papier scored close to the posts for Isma-eel Dollie to convert.
Dewald Pretorius increased the Falcons's lead to 29-19 with a another fine try for the visitors.
But Boland produced a remarkable comeback in the last ten minutes, with right wing Danwel Demas scoring twice, and Peach converting the last try in the dying seconds for another unlikely win.
The scorers:
For Boland:
Tries: Botha, Hugo, Papier, Demas 2
Cons: Peach 2, Dollie
For the Falcons:
Tries: Kruger 2, Muller, Coetzer, Pretorius
Cons: Perkins 2
The teams:
Kavaliers: 15 Justin Peach, 14 Danwel Demas, 13 Piet van Zyl (captain), 12 Lionel Cornelius, 11 Alvin Hugo, 10 Isma-eel Dollie, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Dries van Schalkwyk, 7 Whalied Heyns, 6 Zolani Mofu, 5 Bradley Mockford, 4 Nico Esterhuyze, 3 WP Nel, 2 Clemen Lewis, 1 Jean Botha.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Wium, 17 Janro van Niekerk, 18 Cecil Kemp, 19 Angelo Brinkhuys, 20 Neil Papier, 21 Kobus Meintjes, 22 Elgar Watts.
Falcons: 15 Johan Jackson, 14 Ernie Kruger, 13 Rouan Cloete, 12 Hanno Coetzee, 11 Dewald Pretorius, 10 Len Olivier, 9 Gerrie Odendaal, 8 Sean Plaatjies, 7 Reg Muller, 6 Warren Perkins, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Wouter Moore, 3 Nico Pretorius, 2 Jody Jeneker, 1 Frik Venter.
Replacements: 16 Gavin Whittingham, 17 Rassie van Vuuren, 18 Rayno Barnes, 19 Ruhan van Jaarsveld, 20 Johan de Bruin, 21 Poerie van Rooyen, 22 Jeff Perkins.
Referee: Deon van Blommestein
Touch judges: Jerome America, Linston Manuels