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GARDEN ROUTE RUGBY NEWS - Less than a week after Knysna's municipal rugby squad was announced, the side locked horns with Bitou in both sides' first fixtures of the historic SWD Municipal Rugby Challenge on 28 September.
The SA Rugby Union (Saru), along with the SWD Rugby Football Union, has launched a pilot programme for competitive rugby between clubs from the various municipalities in the SWD area, of which Knysna Municipality and seven others fall under, to see if it can be implemented in other unions around the country.
Knysna, Bitou, Kannaland, and Central Karoo municipalities will be competing in the Shield division while Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn, Hessequa, and George municipalities will compete in the Cup division.
This set up an interesting Round 1 encounter for the two CX municipalities, as Bitou and Knysna would face each other first up at the Bitou Rugby Club fields in Plettenberg Bay. Heading into the fixture, Bitou would have arguably been the favourites, as their 22-man matchday squad comprised 13 Premier League players from Jaguars Rugby Club (12 of whom were in the starting 15).
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Knysna, however, had 22 players who had only played in the President's League (below Premier League), 16 of whom belonged to Sedgefield Eagle Stars, with the remaining six coming from Knysna United. (Greater Knysna players were not eligible for selection for the municipal team due to the club's suspension from SWD.)
The difference in rugby between the two sides was evident in the first half, as Bitou dominated possession and territory, piecing together a number of try-scoring opportunities.
Knysna's defence stood strong, however, and refused to let the dam wall break, only letting one try through. Knysna would come just shy of a try on the brink of halftime, as their effort was held up, with the match going into the break evenly poised at 11-7 to Bitou.
The second half was a far more entertaining affair as both sides seemed to settle their nerves, and played much better brands of rugby with the game beginning to ebb and flow more and more as time went on. Knysna also seemed on the brink of upsetting the home side, holding a 26-25 lead heading into the dying moments of the game, but with less than five minutes on the clock, Bitou bagged a try and a penalty a few minutes later to seal the game at 33-26, getting their campaign off to a positive, albeit shaky, start.
Enzo Stuurman attempts to dig the ball out of the ruck for Knysna. Photos: Blake Linder
Knysna's Averon Jafta and Bitou's José Julies both reach for the ball after it was knocked out of a player's hands.
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