False Bay pips SK Walmer in tough SLA encounter

It was a much-anticipated clash which delivered some of the most sparkling rugby yet seen in this year’s Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU) Super League A to date.

An eagerly anticipated clash between False Bay and SK Walmers at Constantia on Saturday, the hosts exiting 43-34 victors after leading 26-10 at half time.

The sun-kissed Philip Herbstein fields were a perfect setting for what promised to be an exciting day of club rugby. The build-up to the main event was befitting a contest between two clubs eying top six places for the knockout stage.

The False Bay Third XV narrowly won 14-10, while the Second XV battle ended in a 41-41 draw, an indicator of the quality of the contest and its entertainment value. So far, the twenty bucks entry fee was well-spent.

Adding to the occasion was the sight of now-utility forward, Ryan Olivier, flanked by his two sons, leading False Bay onto the pitch for his 250th cap, the first documented such achievement in the club's history.

What followed was a spectacle of running rugby, one which Danny Jones, the general manager of amateur rugby at the WPRFU, could share as a measure of the high standard of the game under his care.

The intensity of the contest was there for all to see from the first shrill blast of referee Joubert Labuschagne's whistle, and it is only fair to say that his officiating contributed to the occasion in no small way.

The first ten minutes of the contest heralded what turned out to be a breathtaking affair.

The intensity of the contest, the pace, the accuracy, and the skill were hallmarks of the match. False Bay's first of six tries was scintillating, a sweeping move from one touch line to the other, which saw one of the Bay's two battery bunnies, Jacques Goosen, cross for the first of his brace of tries. Later, the other busy bunny with similar headgear, Daniel Hayes, bagged his customary try.

The home support, this time outnumbered by their enthusiastic Walmers counterparts, may have felt a little more at ease after that score, but the sheer intensity of play combined with verve and commitment from both sides meant that resting on laurels was not an option.

The visitors threw everything they had at their opponents. Big, athletic eighth man Roland van der Heever and the diminutive fireball at scrumhalf Labib Kannemeyer set the game alight with their play. 

The Bay doubled their lead with their second goal, wing Peter Williams getting the try, the conversion belonging to Dylon Frylinck.

The former has settled in and is beginning to pose a real threat on attack, while the latter, who again delivered a master performance at pivot, kept scoreboard pressure with his accurate goalkicking.

A fourteen-point early lead was never going to be enough to subdue this quality SK Walmers squad.

Their well-drilled pack delivered quality first-phase possession while their quick backline ran at pace at the defenses, their execution sufficiently accurate to crack the wall False Bay had built to protect against invasion. When that moment came, it was with breathtaking fluidity, a 50-metre affair which sent their supporters into orbit, flank Junaid Karriem getting the touchdown. 

The score stung, False Bay regrouped and set about executing their game plan efficiently, giving Goosen his second try of the day, which restored False Bay's fourteen-point lead. Flank Lindo Ncusane got the Bay's fourth try of the half, one bonus point in the bag. Frylinck converted.

Kannemeyer, truly outstanding on the day, clawed five points out of the fire to double his team's score on the board.

SLA2025 is surely the most competitive it has been in many years. All but three of the fifteen competing teams are firing on all cylinders. SK Walmers, back in the top flight after an almost perennial visit to the Super League B, are back with purpose, a plan, and pride. They are serious contenders for a top-six finish. Beware any club who is yet to encounter them this season.

They staged a fightback of note, their bench injecting energy and threat to their play, and although  False Bay led the contest from beginning to end, the fightback staged by Walmers was intense and very threatening.

It added to the allure of the match, it brought people to the edge of their seats, then to their feet, and then back down again. Kannemeyer, like a coxswain in a rowing boat, urged his troops to flood the point of breakdown and swamp their opponents when the Bay had the ball.

Walmers gave the ball air and used the width of the pitch to break the Bay defensive line, the little general doing that to open the second half scoreboard. Rayaan Solomons converted, and suddenly the lead was only nine, shortly thereafter reduced to four points when Quade Solomon dotted down for an unconverted try.

High-quality rugby continued to be delivered in dollops, neither side giving a quarter, their execution of play still impeccable. Wing Daniel Heyse crossed for  False Bay's fifth try, converted by Frylinck to give the hosts an eleven-point lead.

SK Walmers just kept on throwing everything they had into the contest, hoping to force the Bay into errors. Eventually, they succeeded when Kannemeyer scored his second try and Solomon converted, making it a four-point cliffhanger.

False Bay needed to keep their score ticking over, but the visitors were in no mood to allow them into their territory.

Then it happened, forty-nine meters from the SKW line, the Bay were awarded a penalty and big Josh Florence stepped up, calmly stroking the ball between the uprights. The Bay went into a 36 -29 lead, and more oxygen found its way into the lungs of home support.

Not for long though as Ayob Davids scored an unconverted try, reducing False Bay’s lead to just two points. With minutes still to go, the Constantia team were under siege, camped in their own half and it seemed as it was only a matter of time before the wall collapsed and Walmers crossed their line for a heartbreaking score.

That moment never came as the Bay repulsed wave after wave of Walmers' attacks on their line.

The heartbreak belonged to the visitors as False Bay staged a counterattack from their own line, Williams the recipient of the final pass, and he galloped the seventy meters to the SKW line to break their hearts. Frylinck’s conversion robbed them of a second bonus point for finishing within seven points.

It was a truly entertaining contest, and the Bay managed to bank five league points.

False Bay hosts Tygerberg at Constantia on Saturday in yet another highly anticipated clash. First matches are at 1.25pm, with the main game kicking off at 4pm. Scholars under eighteen enter free of charge. 

• Jon Harris is a member of False Bay RFC