WP take top honours at the SARU U18 Sevens
Western Province on Tuesday won the SARU Under-18 Sevens competition at Hoërskool Monument in Krugersdorp by defeating SWD 31-24 in a thrilling final to cap off an exciting tournament.
Boland won the Plate Final, KwaZulu-Natal the Bowl final and Griquas the Shield final, while the Leopards defeated the Limpopo Blue Bulls to finish the competition in third position.
Western Province recovered from a 26-19 defeat against Free State in their opening match on Monday and worked their way into the final thanks to their impressive attack and tenacious defence.
The team started the final day’s play with an encouraging 32-21 victory against the Blue Bulls in the Cup quarterfinal and then toppled the Limpopo Blue Bulls 29-24 in the semifinal to advance to the final.
SWD, meanwhile, defeated Boland and the Leopards in the Cup quarterfinal and semifinal respectively to book their final berth.
The final was entertaining as Western Province did well to take advantage of the gaps in SWD’s defence thanks to their fantastic support play and raw speed, which they backed up with a solid defensive effort.
This earned them four first-half tries to only one by SWD for a 24-7 lead.
The second half was tense as the Cape side scored another try, but conceded two shortly after as they were reduced to 14 men for two minutes. But they managed to shut out SWD in the dying minutes to secure the victory.
The semifinal between Western Province and the Limpopo Blue Bulls was also thrilling as the Limpopo side staged a dramatic comeback with two tries in the dying minutes to level the scores at 24-24 at the end of regular time.
This forced the match into a sudden-death playoff, and after a few tight exchanges Western Province secured the victory with a stunning try out wide.
SWD, meanwhile, cruised to a 39-0 victory against the Leopards in a one-sided semifinal.
Injured Springbok Sevens captain Kyle Brown, who mingled with the players and gave the teams advice during the two-day tournament, congratulated Western Province on their victory and praised the participating teams for the high quality of rugby delivered.
Such was the thrilling nature of the tournament a total of 152 tries were scored on the A field on Tuesday.
“Well done to Western Province, they played a fantastic brand of rugby throughout the competition and they certainly deserved the victory,” said Brown.
Of the tournament, he said: “I was very impressed with the standard of rugby played by the teams and I believe this tournament will play a vital role in boosting the interest in the sport at school level in future.”
SARU Under-18 Sevens day-two results:
Bowl quarterfinals:
KwaZulu-Natal 33 – 12 Eastern Province
Namibia 28 – 22 Border
Free State 45 – 17 Griffons
Golden Lions 34 – 27 Griquas
Cup quarterfinals:
Valke 10 – 12 Leopards
SWD 17 – 12 Boland
WP 32-21 Blue Bulls
Pumas 12 – 45 Limpopo Blue Bulls
Shield Semifinals:
Eastern Province 0 – 12 Border
Griffons 19 – 54 Griquas
Bowl Semifinals:
KwaZulu-Natal 17 – 12 Namibia
Free State 34 – 12 Golden Lions
Plate Semifinals:
Valke 7 – 22 Boland
Blue Bulls 31 – 19 Pumas
Cup Semifinals:
Leopards 0 – 39 SWD
WP 29 – 24 Limpopo Blue Bulls
Shield Final:
Border 7 – 40 Griquas
Plate 3rd/4th place playoff:
Valke 24 – 19 Pumas
Bowl final:
KwaZulu-Natal 26 – 21 Free State
Plate Final:
Boland 52 – 12 Blue Bulls
Cup 3rd/4th place playoff:
Leopards 31 – 14 Limpopo Blue Bulls
Cup Final:
SWD 24 – 31 WP
Courtesy of SARU
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