BSC, Luchenza in battle for national rugby slot
Southern Region Premier Rugby League’s (SRPRL) battle for the National Rugby Championship slot has been reduced to a two-horse race after Blantyre Sports Club (BSC) and Luchenza Red Ants maintained their unbeaten runs last weekend.
The two sides beat Ndirande Impala 76-10 and Limbe Jaguars 14-12 respectively at the BSC to earn their second successive wins in the four-team league and they will face-off in the final set of games at Country Club Limbe (CCL) this Saturday to determine the team that will qualify for the national championship in May.
“These two teams will now face each other this weekend. This will be a nail-biting encounter because at stake is the SRPRL title and a slot in the national contest,” said the league’s organiser Ian Scott.
In the other fixture, Jaguars and Ndirande will be on each other’s neck; seeking their first league victory.
Last weekend, experienced BSC side were simply too strong for Ndirande. BSC dominated play to score 11 tries against one. Ndirande’s poor show was partly attributed to the sending of their two players to the sin bin for foul play in the first half.
BSC got their first try from winger Lesley Nguyama as full back and man-of-the match Liam Gaunt made some great runs to cap his great all round display with two tries.
In the other match, a tight first half saw only one try scored when Jaguar’s Eric Mumba brushed aside two tackles with a powerful run for his side to win the segment 5-0.
However, Luchenza hit back at the start of the second half when speedster and man of the match Montfort Bvukani caught the ball near the halfway line and burned off the cover defence to score under the post before captain Mahuta Kariko converted to give Luchenza a narrow 7 – 5 lead. With 15 minutes remaining, the tally increased to 14-5.
Jaguars came back strong and dominated possession to narrow the score margin to two points. But in the end, Luchenza managed to hold on to the slender lead and were ecstatic at the sound of the final whistle.
