via Malta Rugby League Facebook Page

​24-6 down at half time, Malta left their comeback too late with South Africa holding on for a 30-24 victory at St Marys yesterday afternoon. 

A tough passionate performance by both teams with big contact and end to end action.

Malta officials whilst disappointed with the result, were impressed with the outstanding debuts from the Cronin brothers Peter and Jesse.

The Rhinos are very chuffed in the feat that they Ranked 34 beat a team that Ranked 18th. 

After the match, Rhinos head coach,Jon Wilson said that he was extremely  proud of his players for the effort they put in and the passion and tenacity that they showed out on the field. He also mentioned the great support he received   from Assistant  coach Isaac Thomas and the rest of the coaching staff. Wilson said it was the best win he has been involved in , in his four years with the Rhinos .

The Rhinos lost two players for the match in the first half,being Wicus Boshoff (ankle 4th minute) and Byron Hutchinson , ruled out with HIA concussion  at half time. 

In addition  to this, Seth Buckley (hamstring) and Chelsea Michael Adams  (shoulder) shouldn't  have returned but with no other options both players returned and  toughed it out.

With the Rhinos  having only one player on the bench for 2nd half ,the forwards played the house down with the  entire pack playing big minutes.

South Africa's scrambling defence got them over the line in front of a fast finishing Malta.
Malta  were a tough, well drilled side that never gave up which was evident till the final whistle .

Africa United U18s showed their continued improvement,  narrowly going down to Malta U18s in the earlier match Unavailable for the match were Rhinos regular starting  prop,Shane Gillham  (knee) Tweed Heads Seagulls, Mitchell Frei (Wynnum Seagulls), Brendan  Frei (Wyong Roos ), 
Jackson Frei (Wyong  Roos), Kamren Cryer (Blacktown Workers ),Coby Thomas(Roosters ) and Eddie Proudler  ( South Perth).

The South  African players and management  would like to thank Malta  for the match and wish them  all the best in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
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Rhinos Tries: Juan Benadie, Byron Hutchinson, Will Smith, Darren O'Donovan, Jason King

Malta Tries: Zach Borg, Cameron Mazzelli, Jono Dallas 2
Malta Goals: Nathan Benson 4/4

View the 1st Half HERE
View the 2nd Half HERE

A big thank you to all that participated in the Nines Festival , yesterday on the 24th of February. The Nines Festival is an effort to promote Rugby League among the public and especially school children. We hope to host three more such festival days during 2018. Information  regarding these days will soon be available.
Tuks, BVR, Mustangs and  two teams from Mpumalanga, Panthers 1 and Panthers 2 entered the competition of the day with the Panthers coming out tops and won the competition of the day.
I have to remark on the sportsmanship of the day when Tuks and also the Panthers made players available to Mustangs, who was short on players. 
Jean Coetzer had a quick training session with the two teams of Prestige College before their game. The boys enjoyed their game and told me that they are looking forward to the next Rugby League Festival. 
Hein Roos of Roos photography took photos of the day. One can view this photos on Hein’s webpage, Roos Photography. Please support Hein the way he supports Rugby League. Click HERE
We would love to hear from you on Facebook. Please place you photos and comments. Do not forget to send Deo Botha your photos and comments for our webpage.
Deo can be contacted at;
info@deodatadigital.co.za
or his cell phone:
0829284080
At last and not the least, thank you to the Pretoria Task Team and Prestige College who made this event possible. Let us all support future events like this in an effort to promote Rugby League.

The Mpumalanga Panthers has beaten the Northern Bulls in the Jan Prinsloo Cup Final on Saturday18-16.

This is the 2nd Consecutive year that the Panthers wins the Cup.

An Extract from the Bears Facebook Page:

Bears takes the 2016 troffee after a sucessful season under captain Marcelle Viljoen.
Bears against tuks at Grizzlies Pretoria
Half time - Bears 8 tuks 10 
Full time - Bears 24 tuks 14
A big thank you to all our players, fans and supporters

The Rabbitohs, a newly formed club from the Northwest Province, recently completed a two match series against one of the Rhino Cup Teams, the Brakpan Bears.

Both Matches were played with the type of intensity and aggression that the Brakpan Bears are famous for as they always use their physicality and speed, and are always up for a tough game.The first game on the 4th of October was played at the home of the Brakpan Bears at Bosman Stadium, where the newer Bunnies playing a more junior side from the Bears. The game was very tough, and fast, and the Bears managed to keep the Rabbitohs in check for most of the match. However, the Rabbitohs have some serious speed in their team this year, and managed to run in a few late tries as the Bears took strain as a lot of their players need to still reach match fitness this early in the season.

The game ended with the Rabbitohs 56 points versus the Bears’ 22

The second game was played on the 11th of October with a more experienced side in Potchefstroom, Northwest Province, to help develop the game in the North West Province. The Northwest Province is the newest province to join SARL and is a very important province in the development of the game throughout South Africa. Being the month of October, the Rabbitohs also played in pink shorts to show their support for the fight against Cancer.

The second game was hard and fast, the young Rabbitohs playing against one of South Africa top sides who are in with a chance of winning the Rhino Cup this year ( South Africa's premier Rugby League tournament ). The Bunnies were able to keep their composure after huge rampaging runs from the Bears, and was able to get numbers to tackle and try and subdue the huge Bears forwards. With the Rabbitohs able to get some momentum on attack and giving the ball some air after some great work form the Bunnies pack, they were able to get behind the Bears defensive line and keep the score score board ticking over. The Bears never let up and played right up until the end, giving the Rabbitohs some much needed game time and defensive practice as the Bears were relentless on attack.

The game ended with the Rabbitohs scoring 52 points and managing to keep the Bears to 6 points only.

The Rabbitohs coaches and management were very happy with a lot of the juniors stepping up and showing they can handle the pressure of playing a top side and make the step up to be a very competitive team in South Africa. The Bears also showed some strong potential off a squad currently building for the National Club Championships.

A special thanks must go to both teams for their efforts in developing the game in the Northwest Province, thereby spreading the game of rugby league to all regions in South Africa.

This game was a friendly development game as both teams had many first time players. The Rabbitohs were nervous for the game as the Broncos had played a game the previous week against a strong Rhino Cup Team,  the Ermelo Tomahawks,  and did well . 





The Rabbitohs fielded a development team with more than half never having played a game before yesterday. Marching onto the field the Broncos were by far a physically bigger team and this could be seen by the physicality of the game . 

The Rabbitohs trio of halves , Jean Coetzer , Bertus Coetzer and Deon Kraemer , kept very good control of the game, constantly communicating with all the youngsters and allowing the forwards to put down a great platform for the backs to put up the points . 

The Broncos were running hard all game and never backing down. They played with hearts of lions and left it all out on the field. The Young Rabbitohs answered in kind and this made for a very exciting game as each team brought the best out of each other . The Bunnies started to pick up the pace, as the game went on , using their superior conditioning to finish the game stronger than starting it . 

A special mention to all the first time rugby league players: welcome to the game boys and we hope you are all here to stay . Hopefully we will have many more games like this and have a successful season , with the help from SARL,  we are sure they will assist in nurturing all this young talent coming into the game . 

The Rabbitohs would also like to thank Shaun Kelly for reffing this game , not only did he allow the game to flow so that the players were able to express themselves , but he was also fair and very informative , always communicating with the captains from both teams thus making for a very hard but clean and disciplined game of rugby League . Most importantly his management of the game was flawless . 

To the Broncos ,thank you for the game and good luck for the season.

To the Rabbitohs well done on the clubs debut game , maintaining discipline and making the club proud , monsters on the field and gentleman off the field .