Blue Bulls, Lions undefeated in Absa U19 champs

Jul 29 • General News • 2893 Views • Comments Off on Blue Bulls, Lions undefeated in Absa U19 champs

The Vodacom Blue Bulls and MTN Golden Lions continued to shine in the Absa Under-19 Championship this weekend as they registered encouraging victories to remain the only unbeaten teams in the ‘A Division’.

The Blue Bulls registered an invaluable 34-10 away win against defending champions DHL Western Province at City Park Stadium in Cape Town, while the Lions delivered a fantastic first-half showing at Ellis Park to set up their 26-14 victory against the Toyota Free State.

In the other match the Leopards thumped Border 36-15 in Potchefstroom, which marked their second win in three outings.

The Blue Bulls continued their fine form as they played their way to their second bonus-point win in the competition against the WP in Cape Town to take the early lead on the log standings. The teams each scored one try in a tight first half, but two penalties by Blue Bulls flyhalf Kobus Marais handed the Pretoria team a 13-7 lead at the break. The team, however, controlled proceedings in the second half and did well to round off their try-scoring chances, which earned them their bonus-point try. Captain Jesse Kriel was in particularly good form and led by example as he scored two tries, while Marais also proved his class with four conversions, two penalties and a try for a personal tally of 19 points.

Scorers:

Western Province U.19 10 (7) – Try: Steven Meiring. Conversion: Christopher Smith. Penalty: Christopher Smith.

Blue Bulls U.19 34 (13) – Daniel Kriel, Jesse Kriel (2), Kobus Marais. Conversions: Kobus Marais (4). Penalties: Kobus Marais (2).

The Lions also registered their second victory in the series thanks to an inspiring first half, which earned them a convincing 26-14 victory against the Free State. The Johannesburg team ran circles around the visitors in the first half which saw them cross the tryline three times in the first 16 minutes for a 21-0 lead.

Free State, however, showed their fighting spirit in the second half as they scored two converted tries to close the gap. But the Lions’ fourth try minutes later pushed the match out of reach for the visitors.

Scorers:

Golden Lions U.19 26 (21) – Tries: Barend Herbst, Carlisle Nel, Cyle Brink, Victor Sekekete. Conversions: Brandan Hewit (3).

Free State U.19 14 (0) – Jean-Luke van Zyl, Vuyani Maqina. Conversions: Warren Potgieter (2).

The Leopards, meanwhile, produced a quality performance all around to defeat Border 36-15. Such was their dominance they scored an impressive six tries and limited Border to only two. With an encouraging 17-3 lead at the break which featured three tries, Border were up against it early on. But the East London-based team showed character to cross the tryline twice in the second half despite struggling to contain the Leopards’ on defence.

Border’s defeat marked their third in a row and left them at the foot of the log table without a point to show for their efforts.

Scorers:

Leopards U.19 36 (17) – Tries: Blessing Makhayhu, Chriswill September, Dean Stokes, Estehan Visagie, Jeandre Rudolph, Sias Koen. Conversions: Cornelius Swart (2), Schalk Hugo.

Border U.19 15 (3) – Tries: Conor-Terrah Brockschmidt, Michael Haley. Conversion: Werner Barnard. Penalty: Werner Barnard.