Club Rugby Round-up – Universal happiness at Easter tournament
Kimberley’s Universal Rugby Club played some exciting rugby but in the end it was the team from the Lee Adendorf Academy that walked away with top honours at the club’s SARU-sponsored Easter tournament held in the Northern Cape capital over the weekend.
Universal, celebrating its 125th anniversary, lost 26-5 in the final played on Sunday afternoon, but the club can nevertheless look back on an excellent tournament.
It took the visitors less than five minutes to open their tally when Eugene Jordaan went over in the corner. He was soon followed by Brevan Titus, who set up an easy conversion for Patrick van Wyk. With six minutes remaining in the period, Peter Brown added the team’s third try, converted by Van Wyk.
Unies came out swinging in the second stanza but were met by solid defence. The half did not see too many changes to the scoreboard until Van Wyk wriggled through a number of defenders to score a converted try, taking the score to 26-0.
The Kimberley-based team were hoping to have some reward from a tough and physical encounter but Songz Khonzapi’s last-minute try would have been little consolation to a team who had looked threatening all weekend.
It was a good weekend for the Kimberley-based teams, as Thistles beat Universal Grahamstown 22-3 to claim the Plate, while Warriors won the Shield after Wrenchville was forced forfeit with an incredible 11 injuries going into the match.
With the Easter break over, it’s back to league action in a number of provinces this coming long weekend.
Probably the pick of the action takes place in Johannesburg on Friday night, with 2009 Golden Lions champions Pirates hosting Roodepoort in the Pirates Grand Challenge.
There are two further games on Saturday, Raiders at home to Union and Leopards team Vaal Reefs hosting FNB Varsity Shield finalists Wits University. A number of well-known clubs are also in action in the lower leagues, with WesWits at home to Randfontein in the Senior Grand Challenge and Kagiso, Alexandra, Soweto and Edenvale travelling to Edenpark, Panorama, Eldoronians and Titans respectively.
There are four matches on Saturday (3.30pm kickoffs) in the KZN Fidelity Security Premier Division, with all eyes on national club champions College Rovers, who are away to Zululand Rhinos in Empangeni.
In the other matches, Durban North’s Crusaders are at home to Durban Collegians, Old Boys host Jaguars, and UKZN Maritzburg travel to the Bluff to face Harlequins.
In the Eastern Province Grand Challenge, champions Progress will want to build on their solid start to the season when they travel to 2009 champions Park. In other matches (all kickoffs 3.30pm), Suburban host NMMU, United Barbarians are at home to Despatch, SAPS are away to Gardens, Grahamstown’s Brumbies travel to African Bombers, Spring Rose host Kruisfontein and Crusaders are at home to PE Harlequins.
Wesbank host Robertson on Saturday in the only Boland Premier League fixture, while in the Southern Cape there are five matches in the SWD Premier League: Barbarians v Grootbrak, Bridgton v George, Blanco v Progress, Bonnievale United v Evergreens, and Uniondale v Swellendam.
• For more club rugby info, log on to www.sarugby.co.za and click on the Club Rugby link.
• You can also follow SARU’s club rugby coverage on Twitter at @saclubrugby
• There are more than 800 clubs affiliated to the 14 provincial unions, of which a total of 133 are competing in their respective top leagues this year for the chance to qualify for the season-ending National Club Championships, taking place from 17-23 September in Stellenbosch.
• SARU will publish a national club rugby round-up every Tuesday until the end of September. In addition, weekly fixtures, results and logs from the 14 top provincial leagues will be updated throughout the season on the SARU website.
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