Late try saves it for John Walton

A try in the dying stages of the game gave John Walton a 30-27 victory over Ithembelihle in their rugby encounter on Saturday.

The game started at a brisk pace and both teams had chances to slot penalties, which saw Ithembe fullback Julian Grey open the scoring before flyhalf Luzanne Strydom struck twice to give John Walton a 6-3 lead.

His second penalty sparked Ithembe into action and, from the kick-off, big lock Phumelela du Preez charged to the 22m area, with prop Ntleko Ntundushe eventually crashing over to make it 10-9 after Strydom had kicked a third penalty for John Walton.

Controlling the set pieces, Ithembe then set up wing Sanele Jack for a try in the corner on halftime to make it 15-9.

In the second half, Ithembe fullback Hlumelo Tola attacked from deep and flyhalf Lwando Charlie broke blindside from a ruck to put No 8 Kwii Tshaka over for a try. Grey missed the conversion (20-9).

With 10 minutes left, John Walton threw everything at their opponents and wing Craig Jacobs rounded the defence for a good try, converted by Strydom (20-16).

From the kick-off, Strydom again replied with a deep kick which Tola turned into attack.

After some good recycling, Tshaka stormed through for another which Grey converted to make it 27-16.

With time running out, a comedy of errors followed, resulting in the ball being touched before going over the Ithembe deadball line, giving Walton an attacking scrum.

That allowed Virgil Philander to cross for a converted try, closing the gap to four points (27-23).

Ithembe then committed further errors, giving John Walton a penalty which allowed them to go on the attack.

From a dropped Ithembe pass in front of their poles, John Walton were able to exploit the advantage from the ensuing scrum and Jacobs again rounded the defence for a converted try to make the final score 30-27.