Return of Titans rugby

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KNYSNA NEWS - The junior rugby players at the Titans Women's Rugby Academy (TWRA) recently took to the fields again - for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic - to take part in regional SWD Rugby competitions.

While many other sport codes with little or no contact between players have been able to return to training and even match play throughout the course of the pandemic, rugby has certainly been handed the short end of the stick at amateur level due to its high-contact nature.

It's been nigh on two years since players at TWRA were able to take to the field in late 2019.

But, the vast amount of time eagerly awaiting the return of their favourite pastime finally paid off for TWRA when on Saturday 30 November they hosted teams from George.

According to TWRA head coach Aschin Klein, these were not only their first pandemic-era games, but also the first-ever schoolgirl games as part of an SWD regional schools competition.

For the U16 girls game against the team from George, TWRA put together a team from its rugby programme for primary and high school girls. The girls are learners at Knysna Secondary School, Concordia and Percy Mdala high schools as well as Hornlee, Fraaisig, Sunridge, Concordia and Thembelitsha primary schools.

Photo gallery: Titans Women's Rugby Academy back on the field - at last

It was their first game ever and they only had four weeks to prepare. While George pulled off a 52-0 win, Klein remains proud of his girls' efforts. "Although the TWRA Knysna U16s lost, for a team that did not have too much time to train together, they showed up and defended for 20 minutes in the first half before George could get over the try line," he said.

TWRA's second game was for U19 players from the same high school programme, against a regional team from George. The TWRA side started the game off strong with tries by Ruzanne Maarman and Tamia October, but not before George fired back with a try of their own. The first half ended at 12-7 to the Titans.

The second half started strong again for TWRA and they managed to break through the George-based team's defence to see Maarman cross the try line again for her brace in the game. TWRA's defence stood resolute throughout the second half, refusing to give way to George's ongoing attacks.

The last try came at the hands of Neidine Solomons to hand the TWRA Knysna Regional U19 team a 24-7 victory. This marked the first time that the TWRA Knysna Regional side was crowned regional champs in SWD in the 15-player-a-side format.

Lemenecha Markus shortly before being brought down by two George players. Photos: Blake Linder