Berge were full value for their victory over a strong Villager FC outfit in their Super League A match on Saturday 6 May at the Charles Morkel Stadium, Strand.
It was on the day of the passing of a great individual, Beau Schoeman, who played for Villager and Gordon’s Bay and was head coach of Helderberg RFC.
The club remembers Beau, the great gentleman, whose work ethics were exceptional, and the club wishes to pass its sincerest condolences to his widow, children and family.
Already in the 8th minute the visitors opened the scoring with a try under the posts. The conversion made the score 0-7.
Two minutes later, however, Berge drew level with a try by left-wing Ovain Engelbrecht. Scrumhalf Michael Visser, who brought his kicking boots, converted from touch (7-7).
In the 17th minute Visser succeeded with a penalty kick (10–7). In the 23rd minute Villager scored again, but the conversion failed (10–12).
In the 30th minute Visser slotted a 45-metre penalty kick (1312). In the last minute of the half Berge’s brilliant full back Jeandre Lukas scored in the corner and again Visser had no problem with the difficult conversion (20-12).
With the change over came intense defensive intent, but Visser’s deadly boot lived on with another successful penalty goal (23-12).
Villager narrowed the scoreline with a converted try (23-19). Then came an extreme anti-climax as load-shedding kicked in and the final 20 minutes had to be completed in the dark.
This was the fault of the provincial match between the Rhino’s and Boland Cavaliers not starting on time.
Despite the lack of flood lights, the game was concluded and no further points were added, with the final score 23-19 in favour of Helderberg.
Brilliant performances by Visser and Lukas were well supported by wings Jodi Koul and Engelbrecht, centre Quiwen Bauman, flyhalf JJ Stover and the lock pairing of Shane Kennedy and Conway Pretorius. This Saturday the club travels to Jagtershof to take on Kuils River, a club that boasts a win record of five out of six encounters against Berge across league and friendly encounters.
