In a stunning upset, previously unbeaten Swallows Rugby Football Club suffered their first defeat in this year’s Swallows stunned by Super 14 upset after losing 24-28 to Uitenhage’s Progress Rugby Club in the nail-biting final at BCM Stadium last Saturday. It also marked Progress’s first ever Super 14 championship win.
Swallows chair Zuko Matyeshana said they blamed themselves for the loss due to the
careless mistakes made by players. “Losing is an unusual feeling tous. If you look at the statistics, we dominated but our mistakes utlimately cost us,” he said.
Progress coach Erick Toring said he was at a loss for words and overwhelmed by emotions.
“This is by far the most entertaining game of rugby we have played. Our game plan was to play Swallows a little bit wider because they are very physical and close to the ruck. If we played there, they would have killed us.
“Swallows are well groomed so we knew it was going to take a very prepared team to face them, especially on their home turf. They were not unbeaten for nothing, and that is why my boys played their hearts out on the field,” Toring said.
Event director Phumelele Hlathi said the tournament had exceeded all their expectations. He said there had been an increase in the number of spectators at all the games this year.
