Cell C Community Cup Easter qualifiers confirmed
The quarter-final line-up for the Cell C Community Cup Easter Play-offs has been confirmed after a drama-filled final round on Saturday that saw both previous winners beaten and first-time qualification for Wanderers and Wesbank.
Western Province is the only union with two representatives in the last eight – Cape Town’s Hamiltons and Durbanville-Bellville – while one team each from Boland, Eastern Province, KZN, Golden Lions, Blue Bulls and Leopards will fight it out for the priceless Gold Cup at Impala Rugby Club in Rustenburg from 2-6 April. All 12 matches will be televised live on SuperSport.
In Pool A, 14 points from the boot of fullback Raymond Olivier helped Durbanville-Bellville beat defending champions Rustenburg Impala 24-10 to top the group and set up a repeat of their 2013 quarter-final against KZN’s Jonsson College Rovers.
Second-placed Impala will now have to face unbeaten Pretoria Police, who topped Pool B. College Rovers cemented second spot in the group when they beat Raiders 25-15 in Johannesburg, thanks to a brace of tries from fullback Chris Jordaan.
In Pool C, Hamiltons skipper and eighthman Jody Burch scored twice as they beat Evergreens 45-21 in Cape Town to set up a mouth-watering WP-Boland quarter-final against Wesbank of Malmesbury. Vaseline Wanderers, in their maiden Community Cup, beat Aveng Moolmans Sishen 27-21 to qualify.
Wanderers will now play Gap Management Despatch, who, despite a 41-30 defeat at home to SA Home Loans Durban Collegians, finished top of Pool D. There was a nail-biting conclusion to the match at the WJ de Wet Stadium when Collegians, who needed to win with a bonus point and deny Despatch any log points to pip Wesbank, appeared to have done enough when they led 41-20 with time running out.
But replacement flyhalf Francois Nel broke Durban hearts when he scored Despatch’s fourth try with eight minutes remaining to ensure they finished on 16 points, thereby leaving Collegians and Wesbank tied on 15 points apiece.
And while the KZN champions finished with a far better points difference than their Boland rivals, it is Wesbank who will pack their bags for Sun City thanks to the rule which states that, should two teams be tied on log points, it is the winner of the match between two sides who will advance.
Full Results, Round 5 (final round):
Pool A:
Durbanville-Bellville (10) 24 – Tries: Rohan Kitshoff, Karl Liebenberg. Conversion: Raymond Olivier. Penalties: Olivier (4).
Rustenburg Impala (3) 10 – Try: Aubrey McDonald. Conversion: Willie Kok. Penalty: Wilco de Wet.
East Rand Cranes Springs (3) 10 – Try: Pierre Foord. Conversion: Johan Zondagh. Penalty: Zondagh.
Kempston Old Selbornians (7) 19 – Tries: Roy Bursey, Curtis Kleinhans (2). Conversions: Leon Mauer (2).
Pool B:
Raiders (7) 15 – Tries: Marceau Alberts, penalty try. Conversion: Arno Coetzee. Penalty: Coetzee.
Jonsson College Rovers (19) 25 – Tries: Kyle Wilkinson, Chris Jordaan (2). Conversions: Jordaan, Chris Micklewood. Penalty: Micklewood. Drop goal: Micklewood.
BB Truck & Tractor Noordelikes (10) 22 – Tries: Wickus Visser, Sinthamdile Memese, Leslie Venton, Gert van der Merwe. Conversion: Zander Byleveldt.
Berlesell Bloemfontein Crusaders (3) 25 – Tries: Sherwin Slater, Brandon Colby, Blaine Tlhapane. Conversions: Griffin Colby (2). Penalty: Colby, Morné Morolong.
Pool C:
Hamiltons (21) 45 – Tries: Jody Burch (2), Iewan Bartels, Greg van Jaarsveld, Craig Pheiffer, Braam Gerber. Conversions: Monty Dumond (4), Shane Vallender (2). Penalty: Vallender.
Evergreens (18) 21 – Tries: Luzanne Williams, Joseph Fortuin. Conversion: Leegan Moos. Penalties: Moos (3).
Vaseline Wanderers (7) 27 – Tries: Richard Aingworth, Nicolas van Rooyen, Jonathan Mallett, Geoff Wood. Conversions: Darryn Rentzke (2). Penalty: Rentzke.
Aveng Moolmans Sishen (7) 21 – Tries: Prince Mofokeng (2), Jovan Cookson. Conversions: Stewart Jacobs, Tiaan le Roux (2).
Pool D:
Gap Management Despatch (20) 30 – Tries: Francois Nel, Dyllan Lamprecht, Billy Mentoor (2). Conversions: Nel, Ryan Brown. Penalties: Nel, Justin Peach.
SA Home Loans Durban Collegians (21) 41 – Tries: Kyle Hartley (2), Ferdie Horn, Brendon Groenewald, Brendan Cope. Conversions: Cope (3), Duncan Campbell (2). Penalties: Cope (2).
Shumba Ferros (24) 67 – Tries: Tommie Collen, Pule Sibiya (2), Louis Roos (2), Jannie van der Merwe, Izan Green, Christiaan Els, Bennie Mashabane. Conversions: Armand Botha (3), Van der Merwe (5). Penalties: Van der Merwe (2).
J&F Reclaiming Rovers Welkom (14) 35 – Tries: Wayne Ludick, Shaun Prins, LC van Tonder, Freddie Wepener (2). Conversions: Tiaan van Wyk (5).
Easter Play-offs (all 12 matches lives on SuperSport):
Thu 2 April*:
10h00 – Quarter-final 1: Hamiltons (Winner C) vs Wesbank (Runner-Up D)
12h00 – Quarter-final 4: Durbanville-Bellville (Winner A) vs Jonsson College Rovers (Runner-Up B)
14h00 – Quarter-final 3: Gap Management Despatch (Winner D) vs Vaseline Wanderers (Runner-Up C)
16h00 – Quarter-final 2: Pretoria Police (Winner B) vs Rustenburg Impala (Runner-Up A)
* Note: Quarter-finals 2 & 4’s kick-off times swapped to allow hosts Impala to play main match.
Sat 4 April:
Losers’ Match 1: Loser QF 1 vs Loser QF 2
Losers’ Match 2: Loser QF 3 vs Loser QF 4
Cup Semi-Final 1: Winner QF 1 vs Winner QF 2
Cup Semi-Final 2: Winner QF 3 vs Winner QF 4
Monday, 6 April:
08h30 – 7th/8th Play-off
10h30 – 5th/6th Play-off
12h30 – 3rd/4th Play-off
14h30 – Cup Final
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