Round 5 of 2014 SARSL season

The Round 5 of the 2014 SARSL season went down in the history of the league due to record-breaking games. It took place on July 31, 2014, at the SARSL Arena. Those records were:

- Latest try: injury time - Sebastian Lehrmann - Johannesburg Dragons vs. Bloemfontein Thunder

- Latest conversion kick: injury time - Christian Abraham - Johannesburg Dragons vs. Bloemfontein Thunder

- Biggest win and biggest margin of victory: First it was Port Elizabeth Saints 41-0 Kimberley Phoenix, but the following game broke the record: Cape Town Panthers 48-5 East London Sharks

- Most tries in a round: 27 in four matches

- Most tries in a match from one team: Cape Town Panthers - 8 tries (Port Elizabeth had that record before, with 6 tries scored in two games each)

- Most tries in a match: Cape Town Panthers vs. East London Sharks - 9 tries

Team Standings
1- Johannesburg Dragons 13 points

2- Pretoria Earthquakes 12 points

2- Bloemfontein Thunder 12 points

4- Cape Town Panthers 10 points

5- Port Elizabeth Saints 7 points

6- Kimberley Phoenix 4 points

7- Durban Scorpions 2 points

8- East London Sharks 0 points

Match 1: Durban Scorpions 19-12 Pretoria Earthquakes
July 31st, 10:00

Tries: Alex Andresen (Pretoria Earthquakes) 2 tries, Barend Schoemann 1 try and Bryan Akers 2 tries (Durban Scorpions)

Conversion kicks: Alex Andriesen 1/2, Ryk Akers 2/3

Notes: Durban's first win in the season, Second loss in a row for Pretoria

Details: Pretoria lost the second match in a row, this time to Durban Scorpions, who were in a dreadful season and in 7th place before this round. During the second half, Pretoria was losing in a shocking 19-5 score. Alex Andresen, from Pretoria, was a marked man in this match, but still scored two tries, to give a bonus point for Pretoria, still, Durban was victorious and scored 3 points. It was Durban's first win in the season.

Match 2: Bloemfontein Thunder 21-22 Johannesburg Dragons
July 31st, 13:00

Tries: Byron Pieterse 2 tries and Simon Partlin 1 try (Bloemfontein Thunder), Christian Abraham 2 tries, Kyle Pinder 1 try and Sebastian Lehrmann 1 try (Johannesburg Dragons)

Conversion kicks: Simon Partlin 3/3, Christian Abraham 1/4

Notes: Johannesburg's fifth win in the season, latest try and conversion kicks scored in a SARSL match

Details: Johannesburg were favorites, despite Bloemfontein having a chance to lead the league with a win, after Pretoria's shocking loss. However much surprise in the stadium, as Bloemfontein dominated the scoresheet at the most of the game. In any moment, it seemed that Johannesburg was going to win. In a moment, Bloemfontein was winning by 21-5 for most of the second half. From the middle of the second half, Johannesburg reacted with tries from two tries from Christian Abraham, making the score go 21-15. In one side, at that point, Bloemfontein scored all the conversion kicks, Johannesburg missed all the conversion kicks. However, at the injury time, Sebastian Lehrmann scored a try for Johannesburg to get the score to 21-20. Christian Abraham, who missed three previous conversion kicks, finally scored one, to give the victory for Johannesburg by 1 point. It was Johannesburg's fifth win in the season.

Match 3: Port Elizabeth Saints 41-0 Kimberley Phoenix
July 31st, 16:00

Tries: Aaran Rickards 3 tries, Maxime Simmons 2 tries, Ian Sobieski 1 try

Conversion kicks: Alex Siboldi III 4/6

Penalties: Aaran Rickards 1 kick

Notes: At that point, it was biggest score, biggest margin of victory and most tries scored by a team in one match in SARSL history.

Details: With an average 2-2 record, Port Elizabeth Saints faced Kimberley Phoenix, who was having a terrible season with a 1-3 record. Port Elizabeth, at the end of first half, had a 19-0 lead in the score. Still in a dominating fashion, Port Elizabeth improved its score to 41-0, becoming, at that moment, the biggest win and biggest margin of a win in the league's history. The record, belonged to the same Port Elizabeth Saints, who defeated East London Sharks by 40-0, in Round 4.

Match 4: Cape Town Panthers 48-5 East London Sharks
July 31st, 19:00

Tries: Andrew Davies 3 tries, Mark Davies 2 tries, Jerome Barr 1 try, Fredrik Barr 1 try and Andreas Bonilla 1 try (Cape Town Panthers), Kyle Koncheský 1 try (East London Sharks)

Conversion kicks: Andrew Davies 4/8

Notes: This game broke the records from Port Elizabeth Saints in the previous match. And broke other records: most tries scored for a team in one match and most tries scored for both teams in a match.

Details: With a 3-1 record, Cape Town Panthers came for this match hoping for a big win to get in second place of the standings. Their opponents were the worst team in the season: East London Sharks. With no points and with 0-4 record in the season, East London needed the win to leave the last place position for Kimberley Phoenix, at least. The score, for some short time, was 5-5, but those who believed that this match would be too close to call, they were sadly (or not, for Cape Town fans) mistaken. Suddenly, East London lost every ball possible, from a ruck to a failed pass. Cape Town scored more 7 tries to win the match by 48-5, breaking Port Elizabeth Saints's records from the previous match. Another Port Elizabeth record broken by Cape Town was the "most tries scored by one team in a match", since Port Elizabeth in two matches (Round 4, 40-0 win over East London and Round 5, 41-0 win over Kimberley) scored 6 tries, with Cape Town scoring 8 tries in the match. Another record that was broken, was the number of tries scored by both teams combined in a match. The previous record was 7 (Round 1: Kimberley 42-5 East London, Round 4: Bloemfontein 27-15 Durban, and Round 5: Bloemfontein 21-22 Johannesburg). In this match, 9 tries were scored by both teams, combined.

Teams standings
1- Johannesburg Dragons 17 points 5-0 (same position)

2- Cape Town Panthers 14 points 4-1 (gained two positions)

3- Pretoria Earthquakes 13 points 3-2 (lost one position)

3- Bloemfontein Thunder 13 points 3-2 (lost one postion)

5- Port Elizabeth Saints 11 points 3-2 (same position)

6- Durban Scorpions 5 points 1-4 (gained one position)

7- Kimberley Phoenix 4 points 1-4 (lost one position)

8- East London Sharks 0 points 0-5 (same position)