Hogs outsmart Tuskers

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Tuesday August 7, 2007 00:00

'We lagged in defence. That is why they punished us. We were sucked into rucks (scrums). Otherwise, the refereeing has improved quite a lot. They made fewer calls.' Tuskers'  flank, Duma Mangole, said he created a lot of chances but they failed to finish them. 'I created three to four opportunities. It is just that we could not finish up,' he said to an all round murmur of agreement from teammates.

Donald Mavor, who stood in for injured captain Sean Watson, said their performance was good despite the fact that they missed a number of key players due to injuries. 'I think we had a good defence. That is why we managed to contain those guys. In any case, we will be practising during the week (Tuesdays and Thursdays),' said Mavor. Tuskers are coached by Kobus Fourie who said he was proud of his boys because they nearly beat a big side.

The match was one of the inaugural games of the cash-strapped Botswana Rugby Union (BRU) league, which kicked-off around the country at the weekend. The BRU decided to start the league with no sponsorship.

The Tuskers-Hogs games was played under sweltering conditions and had to be cut short. The two sides played for 20 minutes in each half. The Hogs made short work of the Tuskers with two tries from Byron Nyam'kure and Ross David-Anderson. The hosts replied through Junior Brits.

Hogs coach, Nick van der Watt said the game was not flowing, as it was a bit scrappy. It looked like there, was a lot of trepidation in the Hogs camp and Van der Watt said they did not know what to expect from their opponents. He knew that Tuskers is normally a good side and the Hogs were missing many of their players who were with the national team. He said he included some youngsters as a way of experimenting with a mixture of youth and experience. Results of other games played at the weekend are: BDF Cheetahs beat BDF Sharks 53-0 while UB Rhinos overcame EMG Gunners 15-7.