False Bay finish SLA season on high note

Motorvaps False Bay closed their SLA2024 season on a high when they beat NTK 43-19 at Bosmansdam High School in Bothasig. The half time score was level at 12 points each.

Qualification for the Top Six play-offs was out of the Bay’s hands, even if they banked a five-league point win over struggling NTK.

Their qualification hinged on a tough clash at Florida Park between Tygerberg RFC and Hamilton. If the visitors were to win, the Bay would make the cut but for that to come into play, the Constantia team had to win.

Earlier in the week, the match had been moved from the Jan Burger Stadium in Parow, which was waterlogged, to Bosmansdam High School, that pitch quite astoundingly considering the recent torrential rains, was bone dry and in excellent condition. The match was of special importance to False Bay scrumhalf, Niyaaz Johnson, who led his team onto the pitch in his one hundredth appearance.

Perennial relegation escape artists, NTK arrived at the Bothasig school with a bag of tricks to upset the rhythm of their guests, the psychological games including jostling and niggling their opponents, supporting this with a willingness to run the ball. They built a platform on the sturdy shoulders of their forwards, willing to play the physical game and confront if necessary. NTK simply never allowed the Bay to settle into any semblance of rhythm and at the break were ominously looming with an upset within reach.

Patience and not panic was needed. Logically, the fitness of the hosts was unlikely to withstand an 80-minute plus contest, and with a power-bench, False Bay’s last quarter play was always going to be the test of character for NTK.

As it turns out, the 60-minute mark heralded False Bay’s application of pressure to the NTK jugular, which saw them swamp the Parow based team and throttle the life out of their game.

Their second-half haul of five tries to the one of NTK, displayed the difference between the two teams, the fired-up first half performance of NTK, rapidly fading in the face of a motivated Bay outfit, stung into swamping their opponents by the ignominy of losing their last fixture to a relegation-threatened team.

Five league points bagged and the Bay were in the running for qualifying for the knockout stages for all of 15 minutes, their hope crushed with the news that Tygerberg had held on to beat Hamilton 16-13 and qualify.

Success can be measured in so many ways. Coach Ashley Wells is building his team and will certainly continue this next season. Disappointed he may be, but the success of False Bay across the leagues demonstrates the achievements of the Club.

The disappointment was contrasted by the celebration of winning their league by False Bay’s Second XV, who needed two league points out of their match to clinch the title.

Coach Adam van Willingh’s boys easily achieved this to win the title and bid farewell to popular captain Dustin Andrews in his last appearance for the club.

The Bay “Twos” won 13 of their 14 matches, with a single loss in a season where their style of play entertained and enthralled as they raised the curtain every week for the main event.

The Second XV at all clubs will attest to the very difficult task of building an identity and culture, the role of being a feeder to the flagship team a disruption which challenges the efforts of those involved.

Van Willingh magnificently supported by a panel including Chris Hewetsen, Frans Boshoff, physio Reece Conrad and manager Dewan Bronkhorst succeeded magnificently.

“Things are very new and fresh at the Bay, but all for the better”, says Van Willingh.

“I must commend the leadership group, led by Dustin, for keeping the culture within the 2s alive and helping us in keeping the boys together and focused on reaching our goal. I'm immensely proud at how the boys stood together and welcomed any challenge and more importantly rising in the moments that mattered most”.

False Bay’s Thirds and under-20As both secured second spot in their respective leagues, falling one point short of the winners, Durbell and Hamiltons, respectively.

Enigmatic Alan Footman, coach of the Bay’s Third XV has done an exceptional jog, ruing the three loses his team suffered at the start of the competition, the drain of upwardly mobile players to the upper two teams proving a disruption early on.

The False Bay under-20 A delivered another outstanding season, them too unlucky to being pipped at the post by a single league point, in this case by Hamilton.

Coaches Ash Pears and Kwaka Ngwanya have succeeded in transforming this sector at False Bay into the breadbasket of the club, with more and more players progressing to the First and Second XVs.

All the while, they have become one of the top teams in the league, playing a remarkable brand of entertaining rugby which attracts spectators who thrive on the enigmatic spirit within the group.

The success is continued at the False Bay Women’s team who have likewise enjoyed a successful season and too are in the running for knock-out qualification.

• Jon Harris is a member of False Bay RFC