Border Women hunt back-to-back home finals
Border will hunt back-to-back home finals in the SARU Women’s Interprovincial Series on Friday when they meet Western Province in East London in the first semifinal.
Eastern Province will meet the Blue Bulls in the other semifinal, on Saturday at the Central Fields in Uitenhage.
Border made history last year by winning the Women’s Interprovincial title for the first time since the competition’s inception in 2003. They picked up where they left off by winning all five of their clashes this season with bonus points to book the top spot on the log table.
Given their fine form this season, Border will enter their clash against Western Province as favourites, as the Cape side won only two matches this season, but with the last round of pool matches dating back to June, the clash could be closer than anticipated. Interestingly the semifinal will mark a repeat of last year’s final.
While the visitors from Cape Town will be determined to make up for their disappointing 41-8 defeat in the 2013 final and their 34-3 defeat against the defending champions in the pool stages, the hosts will look to continue their recent dominance over WP.
Border named six Women’s Rugby World Cup players in their match-22, including centre Sinazo Nobele and No 8 Nwabisa Ngxatu, who were also members of the Springbok Women’s Sevens squad that qualified for the 2014/2015 IRB Women’s Sevens World Series last weekend.
Western Province, meanwhile, named only one World Cup player in their squad, lock Celeste Adonis, as star forward Andrea Mentoor and hooker Denita Wentzel were both ruled out due to knee injuries suffered at the international showpiece.
In Port Elizabeth, the clash between Eastern Province and the Blue Bulls could be thrilling as only three points separate the teams on the log standings.
The Eastern Cape side also managed only a narrow 26-24 victory in their round-robin match at Loftus Versfeld, which will inspire the visitors to create an upset.
Eastern Province are expected to load their team with World Cup players, which will bolster their confidence against a Blue Bulls team missing Cindy Cant, Shona-Leah Weston and Marlien Cronje.
SARU Women’s Interprovincial semifinal fixtures:
Border vs Western Province
Venue: BCM Stadium, East London
Date: Friday 19 September 2014
Time: 19h00
Eastern Province vs Blue Bulls
Venue: Central Fields, Uitenhage
Date: Saturday, 20 September 2014
Time: 14h00
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