Despatch hold on for exciting win over Ithembelihle

Ithembelihle mounted a courageous fightback in the second half but the lack of an accurate goalkicker cost them as they went down 26-20 to Despatch in an entertaining schools rugby fixture on Saturday.

With a strong wind at their backs, Despatch pinned Ithembe down in their 22-metre area in the early stages, but wasted their opportunities when they lost a lineout on their opponents’ line.

Despite struggling to hold off the big Despatch forwards, Ithembe were first to score when No 8 Mtha Dolonga broke strongly from a scrum deep inside their territory.

The ball was taken up by flyhalf Aya Rorani, who beat a defender and offloaded to centre Yanga Javu.

He drew an opponent to put wing Sipho Mqikela away for a 75-metre sprint for an unconverted try in the corner.

Soon, however, Despatch were back on the attack and came to close to scoring before Ithembe’s defence held out on their tryline.

But when flank and captain Baneli Sadina received a yellow card, Despatch went on the drive through their forwards to level the score at 5-5.

When centre Mavesta Yona kicked the ball out directly from the kick-off, Despatch took control and used the wind to good effect to force Ithembe to run from their own tryline.

From a ruck, flyhalf Rorani knocked the ball on and as Despatch pounced, they received a penalty and the forwards crashed over for a converted try.

After a penalty and another yellow card, this time to Ithembe prop Major Heneni,

Despatch were able to mount another attack and their forwards drove over for another converted try, making it 19-5.

Ithembe now knew they had to be the next team to score and from a strong scrum, Lwando Gotyana, now at No 8, broke through to pass to powerful wing Liyema Natala.

As they made ground, Rorani and wing Tiger Tshona forced a mistake and Heneni carried strongly, with Gotyana on hand to take a short pass to score next to the poles.

Unfortunately the conversion was missed and Despatch led 19-10 at the break.

In the second half Ithembe went on the attack as Javu showed his defensive prowess and Heneni, Dolonga and Gotyana built up momentum with some powerful runs.

Dolonga came close to scoring but Ithembe were penalised on Despatch line, which resulted in their opponents clearing their line and going on the attack.

Under pressure, Ithembe managed to turn the ball over on their own tryline, but a forward pass handed the advantage back to Despatch, who used their big forwards to crash over for a converted try, making it 26-10.

After Heneni and hooker Liya Waka took the ball up strongly for Ithembe, the ball was spun out to the backs and wing Tshona shrugged off several defenders to cut through for their third try (26-15).

Despatch now began to tire as Ithembe ran everything at them, eventually resulting in a fourth try as centre Javu sliced through.

But Despatch were able to hang on until the close for a hard-earned victory.