Arthur Johnson XV kick-off Irish tour with victory
The Arthur Johnson selection kicked off their tour in Ireland with a 34-8 victory over Gorey RFC. The Arthur Johnson Rugbyweek is held annually in Mossel Bay. The South Africans lead 12-3 at the break.
The score would suggest that it was a convincing victory by Arthur Johnson, but it was a more tightly contested encounter. The South Africans scored three tries in the last ten minutes of the match to take the game away from the Irish team.
The South African got their first practice session in with their warm-up for the match. They planned a session beforehand, but their bus gave some problems which prevented them from getting to know each other a bit better.
The team will surely gel better as the tour progresses, but their coaches Dawie Pretorius and WJ Smit will be more than happy with their team’s opening performance. Their next challenge will be in Cork.
The South African’s eightman, Ruben Terblanche, rounded off a superb performance with a brace of tries. Terblanche made quite a few bone crunching tackles while he also caused problems with his bullocking runs to the home side. The two flankers from Douglas, Le Roux Mulke and Rikus Nel, also performed well.
Nel’s tackle count was impressive, while Mulke was a force to be reckoned with on attack. Everytime he had the ball in hand he managed to get past the gain line. Nel was ever-present and made quite a few telling tackles on cover defense. His work at the breakdown also deserves praise.
The touring side’s physical play was the main catalyst in securing the victory. From the first bone crunching tackle from the kick-off the Irish team was on the back foot. In the backline the two centres, Jeandre Gouws and Andre Jordaan, also produced very good performances. The flyhalf, Ruan du Plooy, was also sharp on attack and slipped past his opposite number a few times during the match.
For Gorey RFC their captain and eigthman, Stanley Hadden, was their best player on the pitch.
Scorers:
Arthur Johnson XV 34 (12) – Tries: Ruben Terblanche (2), Alex Bam, Tristan Delport, Johann Scholtemeyer, Ruan du Plooy. Conversions: Gerhardt Badenhorst, Jeandre Gouws. Gorey RFC 8 (3) – Try: Shaun Mahan. Conversion: Kian Hadden.
The teams:
Arthur Johnson XV: 15 Gerhard Badenhorst (Vaalharts), 14 Yonela Billie (Middelburg HS), 13 Andre Jordaan (Pro-Ed Akademie, Swakopmund), 12 Jeandre Gouws (Middelburg HS), 11 Herman van Zyl (Pro-Ed Akademie, Swakopmund), 10 Ruan du Plooy (Middelburg HS), 9 Mark Benecke (Middelburg HS), 8 Ruben Terblanche (Middelburg HS), 7 Le Roux Mulke (Douglas), 6 Rikus Nel (Douglas), 5 Hans van Schalkwyk (Hendrik Potgieter – captain), 4 Alex Bam (Hendrik Potgieter), 3 Janlu Swanepoel (Punt HS), 2 Louwtjie Louw (Jim Fouche), 1 Neels van der Walt (Bloemhof). Replacements: 18 Tristan Delport (Alberton High), 19 Johann Scholtemeyer (Bloemhof).
Gorey RFC: 15 Jack Willoughby, 14 Luke Willoughby, 13 Sam Kennedy, 12 Daniel Sawyer, 11 Connor Mangan, 10 Kian Hadden, 9 Seamis Tomkins, 8 Stanley Hadden (captain), 7 Charlie Green, 6 Barry Doye, 5 David Bailey, 4 Adam Masterson, 3 Arran Carey, 2 Rees Hughes, 1 Connor Fitzpatrick.
School of Rugby is touring Ireland courtesy of Travel and Sport. Arthur Johnson’s tour is also organised by Travel and Sport.
