U19: Lions snap up home semi

The Golden Lions on Saturday claimed the remaining home semifinal in the Under-19 provincial championship in style by registering a bonus-point victory against Border to finish the pool stages on a high note.

The four semifinalists cemented their places in the play-off stages last week, with the Blue Bulls topping the table for a home semifinal. But the Golden Lions, Sharks and Leopards all had a shot at securing the second home semifinal.

In the Under-19 playoff matches this weekend, the Blue Bulls will meet the Leopards at Loftus Versfeld and the Golden Lions will host the Sharks at Ellis Park.

In this past weekend’s fixtures, the Sharks thumped Western Province 38-0 in Durban, the Blue Bulls defeated Free State 52-14 in Bloemfontein and the Golden Lions beat Border 47-17 in Johannesburg.

Sharks 38-0 Western Province

The clash between the Sharks and Western Province in Durban proved to be a match of two vastly different halves as the hosts cruised to a 38-0 lead at the break, but failed to build on that in the second half.

Six tries by the Sharks in the first 35 minutes of the match, two of which were scored by Thembalethu Williams, allowed them to build up an impressive lead at the break.

But Western Province tightened up their defence in the second half and denied the Sharks’ a single point in the final 35 minutes. Unfortunately for the Cape side, however, they were unable to breach the Sharks’ defence, which left them scoreless at the end of the match.

Scorers:

For the Sharks:

Tries: Eksteen, Wright, Cloete, Williams 2, Robbertse

Cons: Le Roux, Willemse, Du Plessis 2

Sharks: 15 Colin Willemse, 14 Michael Cloete, 13 Wion Robbertse, 12 Nkululeko Marwana, 11 Alrin Eksteen, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Ayron Schramm, 7 Barend Potgieter, 6 Thembalethu Williams, 5 Pieter Grobler, 4 Philip Odendaal, 3 Bartholomeus le Roux, 2 Christopher de Beer (captain), 1 Stephan Morkel.  

Replacements: 16 Roan Dalzell, 17 Michael Downer, 18 Stefan van Schalkwyk, 19 Joseph Jones, 20 Jonas Mikalcius, 21 Lotter Pretorius, 22 Riaan O'Neill, 23 Sibongumusa Radebe.

Western Province: 15 Christopher Smith, 14 Dewald Naude, 13 Jarryd Sage, 12 Michal Haznar, 11 Dalen Goliath, 10 Jason Worrall, 9 Pieter Schoonraad, 8 Ramone Samuels (captain), 7 Luke van der Smit, 6 Johan de Villiers, 5 Sebastian Negri, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Liam Hendricks, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 Wesley Adonis.

Replacements: 16 Joshua Moon, 17 Michael van Tonder, 18 Nathan Gogela, 19 Attie van Rensburg, 20 Steven Meiring, 21 Jonathan Bredell, 22 Wesley Cupido, 23 Shane Grundlingh.

Free State 14-52 Blue Bulls

Log leaders the Blue Bulls got off to a strong start in their clash against Free State in Bloemfontein, with the team earning their bonus point for four tries in the first half.

With the momentum favouring the visitors and captain Jesse Kriel in top form with the boot, as he slotted over four conversions and a penalty in the first half, Free State faced a tough task to sway proceedings in the second half.

Two yellow cards for the Blue Bulls after the break allowed Free State to claw their way back into the match with tries by Cameron van Heerden and Mthokozisi Mkhabela. But the visitors cancelled out these efforts with another three tries before the final whistle to increase their total for the match to seven.

Scorers:

For Free State:

Tries: Van Heerden, Mkhabela

Cons: Potgieter 2

For the Blue Bulls:

Tries: Els, Kriel, Van der Westhuizen, May, Viljoen, Kleinbooi, Strauss

Cons: Kriel 7

Pen: Kriel

Free State: 15 Barend Bornman, 14 Donavan Gissing, 13 Nicolaas Lee (captain), 12 Andre Swarts, 11 Carel-Jan Coetzee, 10 Warren Potgieter, 9 Louis Venter, 8 Jan Venter, 7 Jean-Luke van Zyl, 6 Stefan Koen, 5 Pieter Venter, 4 Francois Jones, 3 Henco van der Westhuizen, 2 Cameron van Heerden, 1 Ox Nche.

Replacements: 16 Markus Odendaal, 17 Petrus Senekal, 18 Awie Thompson, 19 Jean-Claude Fourie, 20 Mthokozisi Mkhabela, 21 Pieter Jordaan, 22 Naldo Meyer, 23 Zybrand Lombaard.

Blue Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel (captain), 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Daniel Kriel, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Marcus Kleinbooi, 10 Ganfried May, 9 Juan-Phillip Smith, 8 Christiaan Massyn, 7 Jean Droste, 6 Hendrik Viljoen, 5 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 2 Cornelius Els, 1 Pierre Schoeman.

Replacements: 16 Arno van Wyk, 17 Wilco Louw, 18 Cornelius Cooper, 19 Abraham Swart, 20 Cameron Anthony, 21 Leighton-Ras van Wyk, 22 Bryce Nicholson-Deh, 23 Petrus Strauss.

Golden Lions 47-17 Border

The Golden Lions started their clash against Border with a bang as they ran in four tries in the first 29 minutes. But Border hit back shortly before the break with Charl Carelse crashing over the try-line to add to an earlier penalty by Dylan Rust.

The Golden Lions, however, continued to show their class in the second half with the side adding three tries to their score, two of which were scored by Sampie Hearn, to push the match out of reach for Border. The visitors, however, managed to sneak in a consolation try on the stroke of full-time to push their score to 17 points.

Scorers:

For the Golden Lions:

Tries: Van Heerden, Venter 2, Marx, Hearn 2, Mabuza

Cons: Hewit 6

For Border:

Tries: Carelse, Van Eeden

Cons: Rust 2

Pen: Rust

Golden Lions: 15 Barend Herbst, 14 Chad McKay, 13 Koch Marx, 12 Daniel Arries, 11 Sampie Hearn, 10 Brandan Hewit, 9 Christiaan Meyer, 8 Jano Venter, 7 Cyle Brink (captain), 6 Sikhumbuzo Mabuza, 5 Estian Enslin, 4 Victor Sekekete, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Rynard Snyman, 1 Francois van Heerden.

Replacements: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Lukas Gouws, 18 Quinton Terblanche, 19 Malcolm Marx, 20 Steven du Plessis, 21 Gerdus van der Walt, 22 Gabriel du Toit, 23 Kyle van Dalen.

Border: 15 Devon van Eeden, 14 Luzuko Mafu, 13 Sibanye Bukani, 12 Riaan Esterhuyzen (captain), 11 Charl Carelse, 10 Dylan Rust, 9 Iwan Swart, 8 Funani Mabala, 7 Conor-Terrah Brockschmidt, 6 Oliver Cracknell, 5 Johannes Crouse, 4 Russel Weavill, 3 Johannes Jonker, 2 Marius Stander, 1 Patrick Sikhosana.

Replacements: 16 Jason Viviers, 17 Johannes Liebenberg, 18 Charl Swanepoel, 19 Siphamandla Dama, 20 Johan Gericke, 21 Bryce Rennie, 22 Werner Barnard, 23 Neil Schoombee.

Under-19 provincial championship log (under headings played, won, lost, drew, points for, points against, points difference, tries for, tries against, loss bonus, tries bonus, points):

Division A

Blue Bulls: 12 – 12 – 0 – 0 – 502 – 149 – 353 – 70 – 17 – 0 – 8 – 56

Golden Lions: 12 – 8 – 4 – 0 – 294 – 239 – 55 – 37 – 31 – 2 – 5 – 39

Sharks: 12 – 8 – 4 – 0 – 333 – 226 – 107 – 43 – 29 – 1 – 5 – 38

Leopards: 12 – 5 – 7 – 0 – 297 – 367 –70 – 45 – 46 – 4 – 8 – 32

Western Province: 12 – 4 – 7 – 1 – 0 – 301 – 289 – 12 – 41 – 39 – 3 – 4 – 25

Free State: 12 – 4 – 7 – 1 – 0 – 260 – 376 –116 – 35 – 54 – 1 – 5 – 24  

Border: 12 – 0 – 12 – 0 – 130 – 471 –341 – 15 – 70 – 1 – 0 – 1  

Top points scorers (Division A):

106 – Jean-Luc du Plessis (five tries, 15 conversions, 16 penalties, one drop-goal)

97 – Christopher Smith (one try, 25 conversions, 13 penalties, one drop-goal)

95 – Brandan Hewit (22 conversions, 17 penalties)