By Chesley Daniels
Klipfontein United continued to make history on Saturday when they beat Krakeel Evergreen 32-18 in their Epru Adams Cup semi-final encounter at the Central Sports Ground in Kariega.
The “Team Never Quit” continues to make Sedru proud as they made history with their first appearance in the Adams Cup. As the newcomers, they also managed to overcome all obstacles, advancing to the finals of the competition. They also made further history by advancing to the Score Epru Grand Challenge Bottom 12 competition next year. United will face Excelsior Middelburg in the final of the Adams Cup on Saturday 25 October at the Madibaz Stadium in Gqeberha.
The two teams battled it out in a packed stadium, with the winner guaranteed promotion to the Grand Challenge Bottom 12 next year. This put even more pressure on both teams. It was an intense and evenly-matched affair in the first half with both teams coming hard at each other.
While Klipfontein consistently camped in the opposition’s 22m, they failed to convert the advantage into points. They made silly mistakes on the opponents’ try line, missing tackles and also missing kicks at goal. They also left points out there by taking quick taps instead of kicking for poles. Points were also hard to come by whilst United struggled both with their scrums and lineouts.
The Sedru side took a narrow 6-5 lead into the halftime break.
The second half saw Klipfontein introducing their famous “Bomb Squad”, which immensely improved their scrums and lineouts. They returned to their structure with phase play as their strength, which ultimately put them on the front foot.
Big George Kleinhans scored the first try for United as they took a 13-5 lead but Krakeel slotted a penalty to narrow matters at 13-8. With 23 minutes left, Krakeel scored a brilliant breakaway try from their own try line to level matters 13-13. Klipfontein scored immediately when Junaid van Rensburg dotted down to make it 18-13.
This was when the Klipfontein side shifted into another gear by scoring three tries with Denvor Miles scoring a brace in the last 20 minutes of the game to make the final score 32-18.
Klipfontein head coach Sheldrid Cannon had high praise for his team’s performance. “I am over the moon today and full of emotions. We’ve done this for our community back home and our loyal supporters and sponsors who rallied behind us since the beginning of the year.”
Cannon lauded Van Rensburg, Cornelius Scheepers and Linton Rhodes who all had a good game. “A special mention should go to our subs that came on and took the game away from the opponents. Hats off to Denver Miles who once again stood out with a brilliant performance and who was also voted player of the match,” Cannon stated.
He said the team would now look forward to their encounter with Excelsior Middelburg in the final on 25 October.
