GALLERY: Dinamika starts off Super Series with wins
Namies' u-15 and first teams rake in great wins in the first leg of the Super Series.
HOËRSKOOL Dinamika got off to a great start on March 2 against visitors Hoërskool Brandwag in the first match of the Super Series.
The day started with one of the star teams – the u-15s. You will recall that this team as u-14 won the Golden Lions title and a lot was expected of them.
They are now under the watchful eye of Chris Sutton, who won the Golden Lions title a few years back with the first team. He encourages players to sum up a game at that exact moment and react or plan attacks on gut feel rather than planning set moves way ahead of time.
The first noticeable difference was the size difference. Brandwag players were bigger man for man.
The pack of Brandwag obviously scrummed well the whole game. The lack of pressure on the Brandwag scrum was evident from the fact that in the first half the number eight never bound correctly on the hosts’ scrum feeds – he never had to.
Initially, the hosts seem intimidated by the size difference and the visitors piled on the pressure and, deservedly, took the lead in the first 10 minutes with a converted try.
But this team really has guts and they eventually started kicking the ball through and chasing, thereby putting pressure on Brandwag when they had to turn around.
They weren’t the same team when Namies put them under pressure. After building a few phases, Namies forced a penalty close to the poles, but they decided to set up the line-out instead of taking what would have been three easy points.
They successfully got the ball from the line-out and a few phases later number eight Tiaan Saayman crashed over in the corner for an unconverted try.
The risk had paid off and this lifted the whole team.
Centre Riaan Young added a penalty before the break and Namies were in front at the break 8-7.
After half-time, the game opened up and scrum half Chamile Cupido really took the game by the scruff of the neck. His decision-making was good and when he took gaps it opened up space for the backs to run at.
Brandwag also had their share of attacking opportunities and scored 14 points in the second half.
However, Namies scored three tries through number five Joshua Smith, number six Joshua Swanepoel as well as Saayman again to win by 24-21.
This team has the chance to do what Hoërskool Alberton did and win u-14, u-15 and u-16 Golden Lions titles.
First team play
The main game of the day was the first team, coached by Barry Geel, who himself is an ex-provincial centre with the Leopards as well as the Cheetahs.
The team he has taken over this year has 11 of the starting line up from last year, including their kicker Ronaldo van Rooyen and scrum half and captain Monré Fourie.
They started the game off superbly and within the first 20 minutes were 19-0 up after tries from Jason Wagner, Fourie and Tian du Preez.
The visitors hit back with a try of their own to leave the half-time score at 19-7.
The ‘tsunami’ backline was super impressive on attack. Geel’s influence no doubt. Their decisiveness on attack was impressive and their handling was superb.
However, most impressive was that they kept it simple, running into the gap and pass after drawing the man. Sometimes basic is best.
Early on in the second, the visitors drew closer with another try to really open up the game.
Then for some reason, Namies lost concentration and Brandwag came more and more into the game.
Brandwag, with only a few minutes on the clock, were ahead 28-26 and it looked as if from 19-0 the unthinkable might happen.
But the team showed character and put everything in it for the final five minutes and were justly rewarded when van Rooyen crashed over for his try.
He had also added three conversions, which in the end had proved crucial.
In the end, a good victory with the final score 31-28, but lapses in concentration nearly cost them.
Remember to make a date for the local derby this year. It may just turn out to be a humdinger.
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