Montpellier beats the Durban u18 (DRSU)

The Durban Rugby Sub Union (DSRU) completed yet another successful initiative at the Varsity College Riverside ground in Durban North on Sunday evening where they hosted touring French club Montpellier. The DSRU fills an important gap in the age-group youth rugby market by providing opportunities for youngsters to obtain a high standard of training and compete at a level that enhances their skills. There is also the incentive to earn provincial colours if they are good enough to play at the annual IPT. To find out more about the DRSU go to their website at http://www.drsujuniorrugby.co.za/

A nice touch before the game was the playing of the respective teams’ national anthems.

Montpellier turned a 7-3 halftime deficit into a 23-19 win against the DSRU (Durban Rugby Sub-Union) under-18’s, this despite the visitors having to play the entire second half with only 14 players. The game was a closely fought affair throughout the 70-minutes and although both teams went through patches of good attacking form neither was able to gain the upper hand for a prolonged period of time. The wind was a factor and the team playing towards the Umgeni River end enjoyed territorial advantage. Both teams made life difficult for themselves at times by giving away a fair number of penalties.

The DSRU’s starting XV had the better chances in the first half against the French tourists’ full complement of fifteen players. Captain and flyhalf Kurt Webster found kicking conditions tricky to negotiate and he missed the first two shots at goal early on in the game. The first points came via a lineout set up from a penalty awarded to the DRSU. A well taken catch towards the back of the set piece was backed up by more precise handling when No.8 Gareth Murrin collected and raced through a path that had formed in the middle of the lineout. Scrumhalf James Hall slotted the reasonably difficult conversion. Soon afterwards, the DRSU were back on attack thanks to a strong run down the left touch line by fullback James Wittstock. He looked to be in for the try but a good recovery by the pacy Montpellier right wing who had initially been wrong-footed rescued the situation for the French team.

After the opening exchanges had been dominated by the DRSU, the French boys finally strung together some good continuity in the 21st minute. Good offloading saw them stretch the DSRU defence from right to left. The end result wasn’t points but Webster was sinbinned for a no arms late charge after the Montpellier left wing had chipped the ball towards the ingoal area and set off after it. Montpellier didn’t take the points on offer at first but they did made the numerical advantage count. They won a penalty in front of the posts and their left wing kicker slotted home in the 25th minute making it 7-3. The French continued to press and they showed good upper body strength in the contacts as well as the presence of mind to look for support runners to pass to, making a clear effort to get hands free in the tackle in order to offload. This attractive aspect of their play was letdown by misunderstanding between players at key moments which led to a breakdown in momentum and allowed the DRSU to consolidate their defensive position and clear the danger. As a result it was the DSRU and not Montpellier who earned the next chance to shoot at goal – another miss. Just before half time Montpellier were dealt a cruel blow. Their flyhalf followed through on a double team tackle which ended with the tackled player being tipped through the 90 degree angle and driven into ground. In spite of it being a fairly incident free match up until that stage and the tackle not being far off the ground, the referee applied the law and produced a red card.

At 7-3 down at halftime and one player short, it looked like trouble was looming for the tourists in the second half. However the French do seem to have a habit of responding well to adversity and the setback experienced via the red card seemed to galvanise them. The way they played the second half provided no indications that they were a player short.

The DRSU used the second half to give their bench a run. As a sort of invitation team selected from various Durban clubs, the second half personal didn’t quite gel as well at the starting XV, particularly on defence. Montpellier got the half off to the best possible start. Good phase play, helped by some a few missed tackling saw the Montpellier fullback weave his way past bodies and set off on a 50m carry which took him all the way to the try-line for an attractive 5-pointer, putting the tourists into an 8-7 lead. The French no.11 and no.6 then combined beautifully from a turnover to get their team up-field once again, where they earned a penalty but missed the kick at goal on 10 minutes.

Kurt Webster then made something out of nothing a flash. He ran onto good accurate pass from the reserve scrummy Kazive Kazembe and attacked the gainline, then pushed a well weighted grubber in behind the first line of D, which he pursued along with his inside centre. The unpredictable bounce caught the Montpellier fullback out and Webster snatched the ball which was in his running line. Despite a defender holding on to his jersey, the creative flyhalf got in for a try that he converted to restore the DRSU’s lead at 14-8.

Montpellier wasted no time getting back on attack and when their left wing landed the best kick of the evening the gap was down to just three at 14-11.

In the 23rd minute, MP hit the front again. They set up a driving maul from a redzone lineout and structured it well enough to keep the energy channeled in the right direction for it to make the necessary progress to the try-line where their big solidly built no.4 lock to crash over near the wind favouring right corner. Another well struck kick increased the lead to 18-14 to the visitors.

Penalties dominated proceedings during the latter part of the game. From a penalty at a scrum engagement, Montpellier was able to set up another lineout in a similar position to the one that got them their try just 2 minutes earlier. A free kick at the lineout resulted in a try by the tourists after they had cleverly deceived the DSRU defenders into believing they were going to attack the big space of the openside to the left. Instead they tap and attacked to the region near the right corner, catching the defence there napping and making it 23-14.

The DSRU had lost their structures for a bit but they still managed to launch a few good although disjoined looking attacks towards the end. Their urgency eventually produced a series of overlaps and from the second one replacement Chestwin Gaffley was able to score in the right corner.

It ended shortly thereafter at 23-19. The tourists were clearly delighted with the win.

No.21 try in left corner23-19. urgency. MP indisciple. bad penalties at ruck. 34 min.

Fulltime 23-19.