Macassar RFC will compete in Super League B next year after a dominating season and overcoming Atlantis to claim a 30-17 victory in Saturday’s Western Province Super League C semi-final at City Park in Athlone.
The WP club rugby semi-finals were played at City Park for the Super League A, B and C clubs. The packed venue was no short of thrilling entertaining rugby as teams were cheered by their faithful supporters.
For the past two years Macassar RFC fell short at the semi-final stage for promotion to higher honours. This time around they showed up and made it count after having a dominant season. Teams winning their semi-final clash gain automatic promotion to a higher league.
Carlo le Roux’s men went in as favourites by virtue of their higher league finish. They trailed 0-7 in an opening period that saw Atlantis dominating possession and territory. The MC Boys were at the end of costly handling errors in the earlier periods and could not get a handle on their shape. For the time they could enter the 22 area of the opponents they managed to come away with points. In contrary the men form Atlantis left quite a few points on the field with their majority possession.
The MC Boys took little over twenty minutes to strike the first blow at City Park stadium. Captain Leshwin Love was the thorn in the flesh as he managed to open the score for Macassar with a sniping break around the fringes. Flyhalf Luke Philander converted 7-7.
Soon after stalwart Clint Stewart bounced a few defenders and produced a sublime offload to fullback Lee-Mondre Benjamin who scored under the post for a converted score (14-10).
The teams went into the break with Macassar starting to find their rhythm in the latter stages of the first stanza and started to look more comfortable in their approach.
Macassar couldn’t have asked for a better start in the second period when strongman Anwar Benjamin bulldozed from close range for an unconverted score (19-10).
Benjamin, Stewart and Oliver Gila were colossal in the tight facets as they laid the foundation for their dangerous backline to play with more width.
It was not long after when wingers Breyton Kleyn and Kyle Cookson combined brilliantly on the edge to send centre Jaden Pieterse away for their fourth try of the afternoon (30-10).
The Introduction of replacements, prop Hewson Petersen and in-form flyhalf Garth de Bruin further bolstered the MC boys attack as they started to cement their dominance in the match. De Bruin also succeeded with two well-taken penalty kicks.
The MC Boys have now achieved their goal of promotion to Super League B, but an encounter against league rivals Primrose RFC in the Finals on Saturday 14 September will determine who will reign supreme as the overall winners of Super League C.
