Leah du Plessis leads Rhenish to maiden Fairtree Super 12 title
Captain Leah du Plessis was outstanding as she helped Rhenish Girls’ High win their maiden Fairtree Super 12 title after a thrilling final against St Mary’s DSG (Kloof) on Saturday at C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje in Bloemfontein.
The sides finished regulation time all square at 1-1. That took the game into a tense penalty shootout and Rhenish took it 3-1.
It was a fifth appearance at the annual event for the Stellenbosch school. Before their title-winning campaign, their best achievements were finishing fourth in 2019 and 2023.
“I am very proud of the girls,” Chris Gerber, the Rhenish coach, said after the match. “This title is their reward for the hard work and consistency they have shown throughout the year.”
Rhenish has suffered only three losses this season, losing once at the St Mary’s Waverley Festival; in the final at the All Girls Festival in Potchefstroom, when they, ironically, went down to Affies in a penalty shootout; and then once against Paarl Gim, who claimed a 3-2 win in a Western Cape league match last month.
Rhenish began the match on the back foot. After a few minutes of feeling each other out, St Mary’s seized the initiative and tested Rhenish’s defensive resolve by launching numerous forays into the opposition half. The pressure from the KwaZulu-Natal side resulted in three penalty corners.
Elizabeth Anderson was on the end of the third penalty corner and drilled the ball past two defenders and the goalkeeper to register the first goal of the contest on the stroke of halftime. Anderson, who enjoyed an outstanding campaign, finished the tournament as the top goal scorer with six goals.
“We had a poor first half. We didn’t play with enough energy and one of our focus points in the team talk was us playing with energy. I reminded them that we had nothing to lose,” Gerber said.
That talk brought to life the team Gerber had seen interacting after their semi-final win over Waterkloof. The coach had watched his side growing in confidence as the tournament progressed, but it was after that semi-final victory that he noticed them embracing the belief that they could win the title. Their 3-0 win in the final four was set in motion by a 26th-minute goal from Shené du Plessis – “from nowhere”, as Gerber described it.
When they returned to the Astro, Rhenish took control and enjoyed the lion’s share of possession for the first few minutes of the second half. However, that dominance did not last long as St Mary’s came to life and forced several penalty corners. The game was evenly balanced as the teams traded shots.
Leah du Plessis, who enjoyed a good campaign, led from the front. She stepped up for Rhenish when it mattered, and she did so when it was most needed, in the final.
Rhenish didn’t win many penalty corners. However, Gerber’s charges converted the first one they won. The injection was accurate and as she had done all tournament, Du Plessis did not make a mistake from the top of the D. She unleashed a fiery shot into the goal box to draw Rhenish level.
That was the fourth time during the tournament that Du Plessis had struck from a penalty corner. Those four goals made her the tournament’s second highest goal scorer, which she shared with Paarl Gimnasium’s Joné de Winnaar.
The goal also swung the momentum back in favour of Rhenish, with the Western Cape girls keeping St Mary’s pinned in their own half. Gradually, though, Carla Ann Mackay charges wrestled control back and made a concerted effort to manufacture a winning goal. But Rhenish was equal to the task.
The match finished 1-1 and the teams went to a penalty shootout.
Du Plessis stepped up to take the first one and had little trouble converting it. Anderson was first up for St Mary’s and drew them level. Phillipa Viljoen, who also had a good tournament, converted Rhenish’s second penalty to put her side into the lead once more.
Rhenish’s goalkeeper, Jasmine Aitken, has not had a heavy workload during the season, thanks to a very solid defence in front of her. However, in the times that she has been asked to step up, she stood tall. And she was at it again when she denied Cassandra Forbes a goal from the second St Mary’s penalty.
Sarah-Ellen Groenewald did not make a mistake when took responsibility for Rhenish’s third penalty. She scored and secured the title for her side.
Final standings
1 – Rhenish
2 – St Mary’s DSG
3 – Durban Girls’ College
4 – Waterkloof
5 – Paarl Gimnasium
6 – Eunice
7 – St Stithians College
8 – Oranje
9 – Bloemhof
10 – Garsfontein
11 – St Anne’s
12 – Menlopark
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