WP, Blue Bulls battle for Women’s Interprovincial final berth
Western Province and the Blue Bulls will have everything to play for when they meet in the final pool round of the SARU Women’s Interprovincial tournament on Saturday, as they will go head-to-head for a finals berth.
Border has already secured the top spot on the log standings and a home final on 12 September after securing bonus-point victories in their first four matches, while the Blue Bulls and Western Province trail them with 13 and 11 log points respectively going into the final round.
A victory for either team will result in them advancing to the final, while a draw would see the Pretoria side book their place in the final.
The Loftus B-clash between the Blue Bulls and WP is expected to be thrilling as both teams hunt a final spot. Interestingly both sides come off defeats, with Western Province coming off back-to-back defeats, which is expected to boost their motivation going into the clash. The Blue Bulls have won three of their four matches up to now and the Cape side two, while the Pretoria side’s attack and defence has been marginally better this season. The Bulls have scored 12 tries and conceded seven, while Province has scored 11 and conceded 10, meaning the match could come down to the wire.
In the other A Section matches, Border will meet Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth and SWD, who have yet to win a match this season, will go up against KwaZulu-Natal at Outeniqua Park in George.
At NMMU’s Missionvale Campus in Port Elizabeth, Border will draw confidence from their superior attack and defence when they line up against EP. However, the hosts have delivered competitive performance at home this season, despite suffering narrow defeats in both games, and they come off an encouraging 60-0 victory against SWD.
Their defence in particular will have to be water-tight to keep alive hopes of a victory as Border have scored an impressive 29 tries in their first four matches.
SWD will be hunting their first victory of the season when they meet KwaZulu-Natal at home following a series of disappointing results. But they will have to work hard to topple the Durban side that is high on confidence after victories against Western Province and Eastern Province respectively. The home team’s defence, in particular, has let them down this season, as they have conceded 34 tries in four matches, meaning they will have to step up that area of their game immensely on Saturday.
In the B Section, the Pumas will host the Golden Lions at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Friday and the Leopards meet the Valke in Potchefstroom on Saturday.
The Leopards have already booked their place in the B Section final against the Free State after three bonus-point victories, meaning they will look at this match to build winning momentum ahead of the final. For the other teams, however, they will be playing purely for pride. The Pumas will enter their clash against the Lions will the extra motivation of trying to secure their first victory of the season.
SARU Women’s Interprovincial fixtures (Saturday, 29 August):
A Section:
Eastern Province vs Border
Venue: NMMU – Missionvale Campus
Time: 15h00
Blue Bulls vs Western Province
Venue: Loftus Versfeld B Field, Pretoria
Time: 15h00
SWD vs KwaZulu-Natal
Venue: Outeniqua Park, George
Time: 16h00
B Section:
Pumas vs Golden Lions
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Date: 28 August
Time: 13h00
Leopards vs Valke
Venue: Profert Olën Park, Potchefstroom – B-Field
Date: 29 August
Time: 10h00
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