Van den Heever stars in DF upset

CENTRE Ruan van den Heever scored 18 points as DF Malherbe snatched a last-gasp 23-22 victory over hosts Westering in their schools rugby match at Westering on Saturday.

Van den Heever was easily the best player on display in the match, scoring two tries, a drop goal, a conversion and a penalty to lead his side to an unexpected victory.

Previously unbeaten, Westering had seen off challenges from Kirkwood and Victoria Park, both of whom beat DF Malherbe.

But at the weekend, DF Malherbe capitalised on opportunities while Westering were undone by handling errors and mistakes.

DF led 13-5 at the break thanks to Van den Heever's drop goal, penalty, try and conversion.

Westering hooker Sean Price kept his team in the hunt with a try.

Westering narrowed the gap to one point with a Lyle Draghoender try and Keagan Bouwer conversion shortly after the restart, but Van den Heever scored his second after a clever quick-tap saw him force his way over.

Westering came back fighting as Draghoender scored his second try after a beautful side-step and hardworking No8 Breyten Slabbert got his first.

That made the score 22-18 to Westering with nine minutes to play until DF Malherbe right wing Gershen Arends scored the winning try in the corner with only two minutes remaining. - Alvin Reeves