UNION High School travelled to Port Elizabeth to face Westering High School in the two schools’ much-anticipated annual derby day last week Saturday.
UHS won two out of the three junior matches, which encouraged the senior teams to give it their all.
The second team once again proved way too strong for their opponents and dominated all facets of the game.
Union’s first XV stated their intentions from the first whistle, as Zusakhe Ngwane leapt into the air to claim possession from a Jaden Brotherton kick-off.
Holding on to possession and continuity, led to Junior Duba crossing over for his second try. Brett Amsterdam converted to put Union 14-8 ahead. Five minutes later, Khwezi Simon dotted over for a well-worked team try. The conversion was missed and the score now stood at 19-8 in favour of Union’s ‘Mighty Whites’.
A lack of depth on attack and playing away from the ball, saw Westering intercept a pass and score a converted try for the score to read 19-15 in Union’s favour.
Under a bit of scoreboard pressure, Ngwane showed his experience by quick tapping a penalty to put Ashton Dawids in space to cross over in the corner.
Amsterdam used the wind well to slot a difficult touchline conversion. Union went into half time 26-15 up.
The second half started off in much the same way as the beginning of the match, as Union continued to apply pressure to Westering’s defence.
They continued to defend with all their might, but individual brilliance from Duba saw him cross the whitewash for his hat-trick. Amsterdam converted to increase Union’s lead to 33-15.
Westering replied with a good chip and gather try. They converted to make the score stand at 33-22.
Wonderful skills and interplay by Union’s backline then led to a try by Amsterdam.
He converted to take Union’s tally to 40 points. With five minutes to go on the clock, Union broke through the heart of Westering’s defence and saw the UHS backline casually shift the ball from fly-half to wing untouched with no defenders in sight. Duba crossed the line to score his fourth try of the game.
Union won the match 45-22.
Amsterdam successfully converted five of the seven tries.
The other matches during the course of the morning, saw Union’s u/14As lose, the u/15As win 19-15, the u/16As win 25-20 and the second team win 48-3.
The school extends its thanks to all the parents and former learners for their loyal support of Union’s sports teams.
