Kings still top of the crown in Absa u19 competition

Aug 30 • General News • 1590 Views • Comments Off on Kings still top of the crown in Absa u19 competition

The Eastern Province Kings have continued their winning form in the Absa Under-19 Provincial competition’s A-Division with a seventh win of the season on Saturday. The PE side remained the only undefeated team by beating the Cell C Sharks 26-7 in Port Elizabeth and still sits pretty at the top of the log, with the Natal team rooted at the bottom.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls moved into second on the log with a resounding 61-31 win over the Leopards in Potchefstroom, while DHL Western Province needed 21 points from fullback Tiaan Swanepoel to get past Toyota Free State 26-25 in Bloemfontein on Friday night.

In the B-Division, only Steval Pumas have an unbeaten record after three rounds of play. The Pumas outclassed Boland 44-33 in Nelspruit. There were good wins also for Limpopo Blue Bulls (55-22 over Border), Down Touch Griffons (37-3 over SWD) and ORC Griquas (27-12) away from home against Hino Valke.

A-Division:

Toyota Free State 25, DHL Western Province 26

Fullback Tiaan Swanepoel scored 21 points to help WP to a hard-fought 26-25 win over the Free State in Bloemfontein on Friday afternoon. Swanepoel scored one try and kicked two conversions and four penalty goals to help his team overcome a second-half wobble.

WP led 16-0 at half-time and extended that to 23-5 after 44 minutes, but then saw Free State score three tries without reply. In fact, had the home side kicked the last conversion four minutes from time, they could easily have closed out the match.

Scorers:

Toyota Free State 25 (0). Tries: Christiaan Nel, Neill Stannard, Ruan Wasserman, Victor Maruping. Conversion: Ruan Wasserman. Penalty: Ruan Wasserman

DHL Western Province 26 (16). Tries: Eddie Venter, Tiaan Swanepoel. Conversions: Tiaan Swanepoel (2). Penalties: Tiaan Swanepoel (4).

Leopards 31, Vodacom Blue Bulls 61

In Potchefstroom the Vodacom Blue Bulls took revenge on the Leopards, who shocked them at Loftus Versfeld a couple of weeks back. The visitors were unrelenting on attack and already raced to a 35-3 lead at the break. The Blue Bulls mixed up their play well, but in the end their backline play proved decisive, with centre Franco Naude scoring two great tries. The Leopards came back well in the second half with four tries of their own, but the Blue Bulls had this result sealed from a long way out.

Scorers:

Leopards 31 (3). Tries: De Wet Terblanche (2), Zweli Silaule (2). Conversions: Siyabonga Masuku (4). Penalty: Siyabonga Masuku.

Vodacom Blue Bulls 61 (35). Tries: Alandre van Rooyen, Coneree Poole, Denzel Hill, Franco Naude (2), Hendre Stassen, Justin Meintjies, Ruan de Beer, Stephan Enslin. Conversions: Andri Cooper, Tinus de Beer (7).

EP Kings 26 (14), Cell C Sharks 7 (7)

The home side began strongly with two quick tries in the opening minutes and a strong lead. The Sharks, who are not enjoying a good season, found some structure in their play when scrumhalf Wicus Badenhorst was worked over, but could not sustain that effort. The second half again saw the Kings outplaying their opponents with varied play and using their try-scoring opportunities.

Scorers:

EP Kings 26 (14). Tries: Tries: Junior Pokomela, Keanu Vers, Michael Brink, Stephanus Nieuwoudt. Conversions: Michael Brink (3).

Cell C Sharks 7 (7). Try: Wikus Badenhorst. Conversion: Tristan Tedder.

B-Division

Steval Pumas 44 (22), Boland 33 (19).

Scorers:

Steval Pumas 44 (22). Tries: Delmond Venske, Ian Truter (2), Jacobus Fourie, Jean Els, Jean-Pierre Snyman, Ruben Opperman (2). Conversions: Esje Esterhuyse, Jean Els.

Boland 33 (19). Tries: Austin Hendricks, Enzo Foutie, Eugene Payne, Handre Ontong, Stephan Borman. Conversions: Austin Hendricks (4).

Hino Valke 12 (0), ORC Griquas 27 (27)

Scorers:

Hino Valke 12 (0). Tries: Erik Knoetze, Magiel Buitendag. Conversion: Conrad Engelbrecht.

ORC Griquas 27 (27). Tries: Andre Grobler (2), Damian van den Bergh, JP Abrahams, Wilfred Bowers. Conversion: Wilfred Bowers.

Down Touch Griffons 37 (10), SWD 3 (3)

Scorers:

Down Touch Griffons 37 (10). Tries: Domenic Smit, Jovanian du Preez, Ruben Abrahams, Siya Ngxesha (3). Penalty. Domenic Smit. Conversions: Domenic Smit, Riandre Muller.

SWD 3 (3) Penalty: Nathan Kemp.

Limpopo Blue Bulls 55 (12), Border 22 (17)

Scorers:

Limpopo Blue Bulls 55 (12). Tries: Aaron Sawu, Armandt Oosthuizen, Branley Odendaal, Dean Steinberg (4), Francois Rousseau, Simon Bezuidenhout. Conversions: Dane Kotze (3), Simon Bezuidenhout (2).

Border 22 (17). Tries: Keeran Bantom, Ntando Mfengu, Siphosihle Magawu. Conversions: Nathan Church (2). Penalty: Nathan Church.