By Chesley Daniels
Grahamstown Brumbies caused the upset of the weekend in the SCORE Epru Grand Challenge Top 12 encounter when they stunned current Eastern Cape Super 14 champs Progress in their own backyard at the Central Sports Ground in Kariega on Saturday afternoon.
The home side led 7-5 at halftime.
The ecstatic win put Brumbies on top of the Epru Grand Challenge Top 12 log standings after four games.
What also makes the win so memorable for the top Makhanda cub is that they last beat Progress in 2017 in Kariega.
The long-awaited clash took place in a tense and vibrant atmosphere in front of thousands of spectators.
Progress were first to score – bagging a converted try after a solid dominant scrum to lead 7-0. The physical and brutal contest continued as Brumbies stayed in the fight with some incredible defence.
Centre Lelona Xhaso, of Brumbies, ran down the touchline and fed inside to fullback Nolan Soyes who scored the first of this brace of tries as PRO took a narrow 7-5 lead into the break.
An intense and exciting second half awaited the spectators as both teams were eager to put more points on the board and walk away victorious.
After halftime, Progress extended their lead to 14-5 via a penalty try and a yellow card to Brumbies Nolan Soyes for an infringement in the Brumbies’ 22m area with Progress on attack.
Brumbies slowly fought their way back, and after Soyes came back from the sin bin, he immediately redeemed himself, reading the play of Progress and neatly collected the ball against the run of play and scored a superb 90m intercept try. The conversion was missed with Progress still leading 14-10.
Brumbies played with more confidence and put pressure on the home side. This resulted in Brumbies’ flyhalf Merlin du Plessis successfully slotting two consecutive penalties to hand Brumbies a 16-14 lead for the first time in the match.
Progress brought in some fresh legs who made an immediate difference, scoring and converting a try to regain the lead 21-16.
Brumbies reacted by also sending on fresh legs from the bench and this paid dividends. Powerful eighthman of Brumbies, Yakha Mpulani, scored close to the posts followed by a crucial conversion by saw Du Plessis, to make it 23-21 to Brumbies.
With two minutes remaining on the clock, there was still time left as the large crowd were on their feet cheering the teams on. Brumbies was led well by captain Garin Strydom in the dying moments of the game, controlling the ball phase-after-phase with the last minute of play.
The ball was then kicked out as the final whistle went off and the whole Central erupted.
The result stunned the local supporters into silence, while hundreds of Brumbies’ travelling supporters were in absolute ecstassy, some with tears of joy, as Brumbies finally broke the travelling hoodoo.
In the end, Brumbies hung on to a clinical 23-21 win as their defensive effort in the whole was absolutely brilliant in securing the victory.
The man-of-the-match award deservedly went to young Nolan Soyes, the fullback of Brumbies, for his brace of tries and overall composure, leading the backline from the back.
Brumbies will face PARK on Saturday at the Rhodes University Prospect Field.
