ORANGE ARMY ENDS EAGLES’ PERFECT RUN

Amilcar Xayiya

@melkardascribe

 

After a nail-biting thriller of a game at the SWC Sportsfield in Johannesburg, the FNB UJ rugby team handed the visiting NWU Eagles their first loss of the season. Ending with a score of 35–29, the win gave the Orange Army their first victory against the Eagles in four years.

 

Entering the game, the Eagles were soaring high at number one on the Varsity Cup log, while UJ were sitting in the middle at number five. However, from the first whistle, UJ came out determined to prove themselves a better team than their ranking suggested.

 

Coming out hot, UJ pushed the Eagles early and emphatically, only slowing when Eagles hooker Jordan McLoughlin opened the scoring with a try from a driving maul. The Orange Army’s scrumhalf, Zian Cillers, quickly nullified that try with one of his own to level the game at 7–7 early in the first half.

 

UJ wing, Ughan Africa, then delivered an early Try of the Year contender, steamrolling the Eagles’ tighthead prop on his way to his first try of the night, as well as the Orange Army’s first lead. Extending their advantage, Cillers capitalised on an Eagles handling error to secure his brace for the night, making it 21–7 within the first 20 minutes of play.

 

Coming out of the break, the first of five yellow cards (three for UJ and two for NWU) was shown. Not long after, Africa claimed his own brace, pushing the score to 28–7 before the Eagles responded with a try from fullback, Luan van der Walt, to make it 28–14.

 

With a message from Eagles assistant coach Siya Mdaka to keep possession and secure and seal the rucks quicker, the Eagles managed to hold the Orange Army to just one try in the second half while rattling off 15 points of their own to edge into the lead at 28–29.

 

However, even a hat-trick of tries from Eagles flanker Ricardo Fourie and a potential game-winning play from 2024 Backline Player of the Year, Matthew Fortuin, could not stop the Orange Army. They powered their captain, Thebang Mphafi, over for the game-winning try, sealing a 35–29 victory over the Eagles. With the loss, the Eagles move to second on the log behind Tuks, while UJ maintain their fifth spot.

 

While the scoreboard will record UJ as the victors, after a game as intense, invigorating, and enthralling as this one, the true victors — as is often the case with great rugby matches — are the fans who witnessed it at the stadium or from home.

 

 

Edited by Simoné de Witt