A hattrick from winger Kyle Hartley inspired SA Home Loans Durban Collegians to a crucial 34-16 victory over Varsity College in round 10 of the Fidelity Security Moor Cup. Friday night's bonus point victory may well be a season-defining result as it sees the log leaders open up a six point advantage over nearest rivals Jonsson College Rovers with only four rounds of the competition remaining.

Among the Collegians' try-scorers were Gary Collins, Mynhardt van Skalkwyk and the hatrick from Hartley. It was a hard fought victory as Collegians had to overcome a 15-16 half-time deficit to eventually draw away from their opposition in the last 20 minutes.

Collegians controlled the first 20 minutes of the game as Hartley scored the first of their tries when he dotted down after eight minutes. Varsity College replied with an Armandt Peens penalty and they then took an 8-5 lead with a try from Zaan-Pierre Bezuidenhout.

The half remained competitive as Varsity College took a surprise 16-15 lead at half-time. The game remained on a knife-edge and it was only in the last quarter that Collegians pulled away from their opponents. They ran in three further tries during that spell to eventually run out 34-16 victors.

Watching from the stands was Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby, Jake White, and he would have been pleased with Collegians' introduction of Fred Zeilinga and Heimar Williams in the second half, ensuring they got some much needed game time. Odwa Ndungane also played the full 80 minutes for Varsity College.

Collegians coach Robin Swanepoel was pleased with the result. He said that his team needed to be bold heading into the final 20 minutes trailing by a point. He believed in his team's ability to grab the bonus point victory.

This was a highly-entertaining encounter, and the common theme coming out of comments overheard from spectators about the standard of rugby played was that it was top class club rugby played at a high level. All credit to coaches and players involved.

Elsewhere, Jonsson College Rovers defeated Pmb Collegians 19-3 in Maritzburg but they will be left ruing a missed opportunity to grab a bonus point as they failed to add any points in the second half after an assured first half performance. The impressive flanker Chris Cloete scored two tries for Rovers but their eight-year-old stranglehold of the trophy seems to be heading to an end.

They now require other teams to do them a favour against Collegians as the destiny of the Fidelity Security Moor Cup seems to be slipping out of their hands.

In other games, Amanzimtoti hammered Zululand Rhinos 80-0 and on Thursday night Nashua Durban Crusaders bounced back to their best as they defeated FNB UKZN Impi 77-12.

Collegians sit top of the log on 47 points followed by Rovers on 41 and Crusaders on 29. Zululand Rhinos remain winless and last on the log and almost certain to be involved in a promotion/relegation play-off match at the end of the season.

The Moor Cup resumes on July 12.

Ismail Adam