Our Wright was not wrong

Despite losing to the Lions over the weekend, there are a lot of positive factors that we can take from the game.

We challenged the top team in the competition and but for a few errors at crucial stages and Lady Luck deciding that we had already partaken generously of her gifts and thus withholding her bounty, we had their measure.

Gareth Wright's yellow card for a transgression that he didn't commit was one of the turning points of the match.

A Lions' player ran into his own man and the touch judge erroneously cited Gareth for a shoulder charge. Earlier in the game, Gareth had sliced through the Lions' defence in a manner that would have had the old Andre Joubert, himself, weeping in sheer appreciation.

When we had the ball in hand we looked extremely dangerous with Odwa Ndugane and Keegan Fredericks revelling in the opportunity to run the ball.

Our attempt to secure a bonus point in the dying seconds of the game brought to mind a story that Dr Danie Craven used to tell, though it in no way reflects on Vaughn Graham, who was unable to secure an extremely difficult pass.

Stellenbosch once lost by a point to a powerful Gardens side and Markotter, the coach, predictably, was angry.

He blamed Danie Craven afterwards for the defeat.

''But, Mr Mark,'' Craven protested, ''you told us that in a two-on-one situation we should always draw the man and pass. That's what I did.''

Craven had passed to a big forward who had knocked on.

''You should know better than that,'' Markotter said.

''You never pass to him when he is in motion.''