Villager advanced to the Pick n Pay Gold Cup national club rugby semifinals when they pipped a never-say-die Gardens side 40-35 after a thrill-a-minute tussle in Cape Town on Saturday.
An adventurous Gardens outfit always threatened on attack, and the inventive Kariega side kept the Villager defenders on their toes for the full 80 minutes of a highly charged knockout clash.
Down 21-0 after 33 minutes, Gardens fought back heroically against SA's second-oldest club rugby side at the Brookside stadium.
Even when Villager were leading 40-28 in the final minutes, Gardens never allowed their heads to drop and were rewarded for their persistence with a scintillating late try from marauding fullback Adriano Martin.
Though they have exited the Gold Cup, Gardens have another opportunity to lift silverware when the EPRU Grand Challenge competition reaches a climax over the next few weeks.
Ahead of the quarterfinal, Gardens coach Julian Daniels urged his charges to go flat out and produce a lion-hearted “one million per cent” team effort and they responded magnificently.
Trailing 21-7 at the break, Gardens started the second half on the front foot and swarmed onto the attack with wing Duwayne Nel scoring his team's second try.
Flyhalf Luciandre Theodore made no mistake with the conversion to leave Villager with 21-14 lead.
Two minutes later, the game was turned on its head when dynamic Gardens wing Ethan Vaaltyn scored an intercept try, which left the teams level at 21-21.
The see-saw nature of the contest continued in the 50th minute when Villager reclaimed the lead when Adriaan Rabie scored his team's fourth try.
With the result in the balance, both teams fought tooth and nail to gain the ascendancy in what was developing into an arm wrestle.
Gardens enjoyed their best spell midway through the second half, but were unable to make the pressure count.
Two further tries for Villager from Adriaan Rabie, Reinard Speeth left the Cape Town side with a 40-28 lead after 67 minutes.
Villager dominated the opening exchanges and were rewarded when loose forward MC De Jongh crashed over for the first try of the game in the eighth minute.
The home side continued to pile on the pressure, but a fired-up Gardens side defended bravely to hold their opponents at bay.
Gardens were clearly not happy with referee AJ Jacobs' officiating in the first half and this led to a long discussion between the whistleman and the Kariega side's captain, Lukhona Gans.
At one stage, tempers threatened to boil over in what was becoming an ill-tempered showdown.
Villager continued to pile on the pressure and scored a third try when No 8 Thomas Meyer pierced the Gardens' defence to put his side into a healthy 19-0 lead after 29 minutes.
Gardens opened their account just before halftime when Ethan Vaaltyn scored when he latched onto a pinpoint cross-field kick from Theodore.
Last week, Gardens progressed to the quarterfinals with a nerve-jangling 29-25 win over Kruisfontein United at the Central Field in Kariega.
Scorers:
Villager 40: Tries: MC De Jongh, Neil Venter, Thomas Meyer, Adriaan Rabie, Reinard Speeth and Andries Viljoen. Conversions: Devon Lailvaux (5).
Gardens 35: Tries: Ethan Vaaltyn (2), Duwayne Nel, Lukhona Gans, Adriano Martin. Conversions: Luciandre Theodore (3). Ryan Brown (2).
The Herald
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.