By Chesley Daniels
Trying Stars, the pride of Alexandria and Ndlambe Municipality, made the region proud when they edged out visitors Star of Hope 38-33 in their Eastern Cape Super 16 quarterfinal showdown at the Wentzel Park Sports Ground in Alexandria on Saturday afternoon.
It was the first time the home side reached the last eight in the competition.
The intense thriller saw the visitors leading 16-14 at halftime, an indication on how tight and close the battle was. Both teams played exceptional rugby throughout this Super Rugby competition and Saturday was no different as the clash went down to the wire with the winner decided on the stroke of fulltime.
The game had started at a fast pace and high intensity with both teams eager and determined to win at all cost to book a place in the semifinals of the prestigious competition. It was always going to be a tough encounter and a brutal affair, with the home side posing a big threat to the visitors at their fortress home ground.
Thousands of spectators had turned up for the encounter and certainly got full value for their money, as they were entertained with spectacular running rugby until the last minute.
The first half was an evenly matched affair as both teams scored twice with Stars playing with the wind. The visitors took a narrow 16-14 lead into the break, with the second half promising to be an even tougher contest.
Both teams’ discipline came into question when each received two yellow cards for serious infringements.
Stars were leading 33-30 when Star of Hope levelled matters with six minutes left on the clock. The visitors’ bigger forwards did well upfront and secureed quality balls for their backs.
The home side increased the tempo with their favourite brand of rugby, by executing quick taps from penalties and that resulted in territorial advantage and points.
In the dying moments of the game in the second half, the home side attacked from their own half with some brilliant interplay between forwards and backs, resulting in replacement centre Flinn Cannon receiving the ball and running 20 metres to score the winner in the left hand corner.
Following the conversion, the siren went off and the whole stadium erupted in excitement as Stars won 38-33, sending them through to the semifinals for the first time in their history of the competition.
Points scored for Trying Stars:
TRIES: Melikaya Koopman, Dicanio King, Zackary Cannon, Kelvano King, Garth Oosthuizen and Flinn Cannon
Conversions:
Lance King x4
Stars’ head coach Alan Cannon was a very relieved and proud man after his team made history. “It was a very hard and tough encounter and all credit to Star of Hope for pushing us to the wire. They are a very good side and we got huge respect for them. We are playing new comers Fort Beaufort United at home in the semifinals, who beat defending Champs EL Police. So it will again be a tough semi as United will come with attacks just like Star of Hope. We want to carry the Sedru flag high and go all the way to make history and put our town and region on the map,” said Cannon.
