By Chesley Daniels and Ethan Goliath
A first-half dominance by visitors Trying Stars 1st XV saw the Alexandria outfit record a comfortable 40-6 bonus point win over hosts Lily White in their EPRU Grand Challenge Group A Fixture played at the Lavender Valley Sports Field on 24 June.
Trying Stars returned to the Lavender Valley ground for the first time in almost 12 years since they last played there against Universals in the Adams Cup Competition fixture. The bonus point win saw Stars strengthening their position in 2nd place on the overall Log Standings behind leaders Progress from Kariega. Lily White dropped down to 8th position and bottom of the log and is under pressure going in round two of the competition.
FIRST HALF
The home side had a decent start and put the visitors under pressure early on, as they were first to score points on the board via a penalty by centre, Lakhanya Sam, in the 5th minute of the first half. Stars regrouped and started playing structured rugby and replied with a great try by Lucian Millborrow, outsprinting the opposition to score under the poles. Captain and fly half Kelvano King slotted the conversion to give Stars a 7-3 lead.
Mistakes occurred from both sides for a period of time and scoring became difficult. Blues were down to 14 men in the 20th minute of the first half, and Stars began to capitalise on this. Lance King scored immediately with Kelvano adding the two points as the visitors led 14-3. Blues’ backs looked solid with the ball in hand with the little ball possession and were awarded a penalty in the 31st minute. Sam converted 14-6 in favour of Stars. Lucian Millborrow scored his second try straight after the kickoff under the poles and also converted to widen the gap 28-6 for his side. A fantastic break resulted in a fine converted try by captain Kelvano King to take the score 35-6 at the break.
SECOND HALF
Despite playing with 14 men, the home side did very well to restrict the visitors from scoring more points in the second half. The second half was rather scrappy for both teams as Stars should be more disappointed with their efforts in the second half. Both teams lost the ball in tackled situations on attack and lost concentration and focus. Stars eventually scored in the 24th minute of the second half as prop Lifa Matshisi dived over. Kelly converted and took the score to 40-6. In the end, Stars hold their nerve and walked away with a full bag of points in front of a decent crowd at the Lavender Valley.
FINAL SCORE: LILY WHITE 6-40 TRYING STARS
MAN OF THE MATCH
The evergreen 8th man of Trying Stars, Ambrose Cannon, deservedly earned the Grocott’s Mail/Daniels MEDIA Man of the Match Award after yet another monster of a performance. He was superb with the ball in hand, carrying out brilliant attacking runs down the field and from the back of the scrum. Cannon also scored a salubrious individual try and was involved in a few tries for his side. His defence was also rock solid and made numerous turnovers at the breakdowns.
Trying Stars 1st Reserve won 18-11.
