Craven Week: Sharks get one over Free State

WRAP:  It was cold in Paarl when the last match started with a thin wind still blowing. The rain had stopped and a part of Paarl Rock was visible. Against that, the well-used field was soggy and heavy, and yet the two teams played as if it were a dry, firm field with tries the only objective, as Kwa-Zulu Natal’s Sharks beat the Grey College’s Free State 29-20.

Free State dominated possession and territory with over 60% of both but when the Sharks could break out they scored while Free State did not finish as well.

It was only late in the second half when Kwa-Zulu Natal got down into Free State territory and did not score.

There was much that was admirable in the match.

The spirit of the match was not wholly admirable. The players shook hands beforehand but there was clearly animus between the two teams.

It was the first match in which there was an angry scuffle as schoolboys copied some of the childishness of adult players.

Refereeing decisions were queried on occasion and at one stage the referee told the Sharks not to shout when Free State were throwing into line-outs – not something that accords with the game’s sporting spirit.

Free State scored first. They had settled on Kwa-Zulu Natal land when Kwa-Zulu Natal were penalised for dragging scrumhalf Ross Braude along the ground at a tackle/ruck and into touch.

Zander du Plessis kicked out for a line-out, Free State shoved their maul forward and André-Hugo Venter scored. Du Plessis converted. 7-0 after 8 minutes.

The lead lasted just over a minute as the Sharks secured the kick-off and attacked down the right where tall Celimpilo Gumede managed to get the ball to ground in the tackle, a centimetre or two inside the touch-in-goal line. Flyhalf Dylan Pretorius converted from touch. 7-7 after 10 minutes.

Free State had a five-metre scrum but knocked in going blind. They had a five-metre line-out, but the Sharks won it, and then Siyanda Cele, playing on the wing, broke the shackles and raced down the left.

Lock Andrew James charged and then Rynhardt Jonker grubbered towards the Free State goal-line. Braude darted back, gathered the ball. crossed his goal line and seemed about to kick the ball out when he lost it.

He dived towards it and missed it but Kwa-Zulu Natal prop Thabiso Mdletshe dived on the ball and, after consultation between referee and TMO, ignoring the assistant referee’s advice of a try, the freakish try was awarded. 12-7 after 26 minutes.

Three minutes later Du Plessis goaled a penalty and it was 12-10.

Two minutes later passing by the Free State backs went awry. Gumede gathered and gave a tiny pass to flank George Luzolo who raced over for his first try in the match, and the Sharks led 19-10.

Free State came close to scoring in the right corner but the TMO detected a tiny knock-on just as Jade Human was grounding the ball.

Half-time broke with Kwa-Zulu Natal leading 19-10.

Du Plessis goaled a penalty to make the score 19-13 early in the second half, but the Sharks got on a profitable attack again. Cele kicked ahead, the Free State defence fumbled and there was Pretorius to kick the ball into in-goal and win the race for the touchdown. 24-13 eight minutes into the half.

Braude kicked, Pretorius started a counterattack that ended, after inter-passing, with a second try for Luzolo. 29-13 after 56 minutes.

When the Sharks failed to kick a penalty into touch, Free State countered on the left. They went wide right and came back left. The Sharks lost a man to the sin bin, Free State tapped the penalty and Richard Kriel scored. 29-10 with 11 minutes to play.

They were 11 zestful minutes as both sides had a chance to attack and Free State were running for all they were worth. They had a five-metre scrum, but the defence held.

It was an intense match.

Scorers:

For Sharks:
Tries: Celimpilo Gumede, Thabiso Mdletshe, George Luzolo 2, Dylan Pretorius
Cons: Dylan Pretorius 2

For Free State:
Tries: André-Hugo Venter, Richard Kriel
Cons: Zander du Plessis 2
Pens: Zander du Plessis 2

Teams:

Free State: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 3 Jacobus Agenbag, 4 Lekobe Ofentse, 5 Danwich Beukes, 6 Samkele Mzayiya, 7 De Wet Marais, 8 Werner Gouws, 9 Ross Braude, 10 Zander du Plessis, 11 Ian Small-Smith, 12 Petrus Smith, 13 Wyclef Vlitoor, 14 Brandon Adams, 15 Richard Kriel, 16 Fafa Boonzaaier, 17 Lihle Lolwane, 18 Albertus Annandale, 19 Nhlanhla Senoamadi, 20 Willem Steenkamp, 21 Delano Williams, 22 Jade Pedro, 23 Lehlohonolo Litabe.

Sharks: 1 Jordan Clarke, 2 Ruan Olivier, 3 Mthokozisi Gumede, 4 Lunga Ncube, 5 Deon Slabbert, 6 George Luzolo, 7 Sibusiso Sangweni, 8 Celimpilo Gumede, 9 Gareth Swanepoel, 10 Dylan Pretorius, 11 Joe Jonas, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 13 Lwandile Menze, 14 Jean Roux, 15 Siyanda Cele, 16 Teague Loelly, 17 Thabiso Mdletshe, 18 Spekahle Dube, 19 Andrew James, 20 Asande Mnguni, 21 Runako Brynard, 22 Nkondlo Radebe, 23 Jacques Odendaal.

Boland 19-17 Blue Bulls

Boland fought back on two occasions to edge the Blue Bulls 19-17 in a tense battle on Day Four of the 2018 Craven Week.

Boland’s four-point half-time lead was erased early in the second half but a Lionel April try – his second of the match – saw them gain a two-point lead, a lead they would not let go of.

Lionel April shocked the Blue Bulls by grabbing an opening-minute try, which he converted to hand Boland a 7-0 lead but a Regard Roets penalty in the fourth minute saw the deficit reduced to 3-7. The Blue Bulls took the lead in the ninth minute when Campwill Willemse got himself over the line. Roets’ conversion ensuring a 10-7 led after 10 minutes.

Boland were reduced to 14 men in the 27th minute when Heinrich Naude was shown a yellow card for a dangerous clean-out at the breakdown and so were the Blue Bulls a minute later when Marcelle Mombers joined Naude in the sin bin for repeated breakdown infringements.

Boland regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Shane-Cole Williams broke through a gap and shrugged off two defenders to score. April’s conversion handing Boland a 14-10 lead at the break.

Five minutes into the second half and the Blue Bulls regained the lead as Divan Venter spun his way through two defenders to dot down. Roets’ successful conversion handed his side a 17-14 lead. Boland were once again reduced to 14 men in the 51st minute when Williams was sent to the bin.

Being a man down meant little as April scored his second when scrumhalf Luciano Elias went down the blind side, fed his flyhalf who shrugged off a tackler to dot down and take a 19-17 lead after 55 minutes.

The closing stages of the match remained tense and the Bulls had a chance to regain the lead in the 61st minute but Roets’ penalty attempt hit the upright and let Boland off the hook.

Scorers:

For Boland:
Tries: Lionel April 2, Shane-Cole Williams
Cons: Lionel April 2

For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Campwill Willemse, Divan Venter
Cons: Regard Roets 2
Pen: Regard Roets

Yellow cards: Heinrich Naude (Boland, 27); Marcelle Mombers (Blue Bulls, 28); Shane-Cole Williams (Boland, 51)

Teams:

Boland: 1 Thomas Bezuidenhout, 2 Reevan Strydom, 3 Duan Chad, 4 Jurie de Kock, 5 JW Human, 6 Charl van Rensburg, 7 Heinrich Naude, 8 Marthinus van Zyl, 9 Luciano Elias, 10 Lionel April, 11 Ethniqe Adams, 12 Shane-Cole Williams, 13 Christoffel Grobbelaar, 14 Dylan May, 15 Conner Mahoney, 16 Jacobus Groenewald, 17 Storm Hanekom, 18 Eduard Bruwer, 19 Thomas Linnegar, 20 Keanu Adonis, 21 Aphelele Madaka, 22 Shaun-Christian Baxter, 23 Roann Jansen.

Blue Bulls: 1 Dewald Donald, 2 Janco Uys, 3 Tapiwanashe Katete, 4 Christian Kamffer, 5 Raynard Roets, 6 Johandre Buitendag, 7 Lohan Potgieter, 8 Divan Venter, 9 Bernard van der Linde, 10 Regard Roets, 11 Nsuku Baloyi, 12 Dian Nordier, 13 Diego Appollis, 14 Jaden Visagie, 15 Campwill Willemse, 16 Dewald Pienaar, 17 Brailon Brandt, 18 Sarel Joubert, 19 Kgalalelo Mothomologo, 20 Marcelle Mombers, 21 Marven Petersen, 22 Jurich Claasens, 23 Shurwin Smith.

Western Province XV 26-8 Falcons

An Allister Williams hat-trick helped Western Province XV record a hard-earned 26-8 victory over the Falcons on Day Four of the 2018 Craven Week.

WP XV outscored their opponents three tries to one and with a handy 11 points form the boot of flyhalf Nivan Petersen, recorded their second victory of the week while the Falcons suffered their first defeat.

A fourth-minute penalty got the scoring going as Aurelio Pilander handed the Falcons an early lead but Ntokozo Hlope was sent to the sin bin soon after repeated infringements in their red zone. WP XV took the lead in the 13th minute when Allister Williams made his way over the line to hand his side a 5-3 after 13 minutes.

Nivan Petersen extended WP XV’s lead to 8-3 when he slotted a 25th-minute conversion. The Falcons were once again reduced to 14 men, this time Dian Coetsee seeing yellow for collapsing a maul a few metres from his try line.

Coetsee made amends for his first-half indiscretion when he grabbed a try in the 44th minute to level at 8-8. But Petersen edged his side ahead 11-8 in the 48th minute by slotting his second penalty. WP XV’s lead stretched to 14-8 as Petersen slotted his third penalty in the 55th minute.

A well-executed rolling maul resulted in Williams touching down for the second time to extend the lead to 19-8 after 58 minutes. It was a case of rinse and repeat in the 62ns minute when another rolling maul saw Williams dot down his hat-trick score. Nivan Petersen popped over his first conversion to take the lead to 26-8.

Scorers:

For Western Province XV:
Tries: Allister Williams 3
Con: Nivan Petersen
Pens: Nivan Petersen 3

For the Falcons:
Try: Dian Coetsee
Pen: Aurelio Pilander

Yellow cards: Ntokozo Hlope (Falcons, 6); Dian Coetsee (Falcons, 29)

Teams:

WP XV: 1 De Wet Wolhuter, 2 Cullen van der Merwe, 3 David Ige, 4 Nahum Johannes, 5 Emile van Heerden, 6 Dean Niewoudt, 7 Thys Kitshoff, 8 Matthew Cordy, 9 Abdur-Rageem Ismail, 10 Nivan Petersen, 11 Marcqiewm Titus, 12 Erik Lambrecht, 13 Luca Liebenberg, 14 Tharquinn Manuel, 15 Remy Engelbrecht, 16 Allister Williams, 17 Seth Christian, 18 Jovan Bekker, 19 Tyrone Maritz, 20 Arminn Posthumus, 21 Morndrey Titus, 22 Mikyle Vraagom, 23 Juanre de Klerk.

Falcons: 1 Tony Edmund, 2 Rayno Nel, 3 Divan Meyer, 4 Thabang Mahlasi, 5 Marno Swanepoel, 6 Danny Keyser, 7 Thabo Ndimande, 8 Wesley Noeth, 9 Dewie Strydom, 10 Zian de Jager, 11 Leshley October, 12 Dylan Schwartz, 13 Franco Pienaar, 14 Garren Morris, 15 Zeilinga Strydom, 16 Dian Coetsee, 17 Ntokozo Hlope, 18 Dian Coetzee, 19 Thanbang Malone, 20 Christiaan Burger, 21 Wesley Miller, 22 Aurelio Pilander, 23 Keegan Williams.

Golden Lions XV 24-38 SWD

SWD ran in six tries to the Golden Lions XV’s four to grind out a tough 38-24 victory on Day Four of the 208 Craven Week.

SWD Fullback Clyde Lewis contributed 18 of his team’s points, which included two tries, to see them bounce back from a Day Two defeat while the Golden Lions XV had to settle for their second defeat of the week.

SWD made a fast start and a quickly-taken penalty on the Golden Lions XV’s five-metre line resulted in Janco Klinck crashing over. Clyde Lewis popped over the conversion for a 7-0 lead after three minutes.

Lewis added his name onto the try-scorers list when he broke through the Lions XV’s defence to race away and score. He added the extras to extend SWD’s lead to 14-0 after 12 minutes. The Lions XV hit back three minutes later when Ngia Selengebe bashed his way over from close range. Reece Botha added the extras to cut the deficit to 7-14.

SWD came flying back in the 21st minute when Vernon Paulo ran a brilliant inside line to latch onto an offload and dot down. Lewis’ third conversion ensuring a 21-7 lead but back came the Lions XV as Brendon Pawson ripped the ball from the restart and raced away to score to reduce the gap to 12-21.

Paulo grabbed his second on the stroke of half-time when he once again used his strength to get through two defenders. Lewis maintained his 100% record to take SWD’s lead to 28-7.

The Lions XV made a fast start to the second half and with Joseph Iye and James MacIndoe dotting down in the first 12 minutes, combined with a solitary Botha conversion, the deficit was cut to 24-28 after 48 minutes.

The next points came 10 minutes later when Hannes Gous crashed over from close range to take the lead to 33-24. SWD continued to apply pressure onto the Lions XV defence and got rewarded in the 67th minute when scored his side’s sixth try and sealed the victory.

Scorers:

For Golden Lions XV:
Tries: Ngia Selengebe, Brendon Pawson, Joseph Iye, James MacIndoe
Cons: Reece Botha 2

For SWD:
Tries: Janco Klinck, Clyde Lewis, Vernon Paulo 2, Hannes Gous, Magnus Muller
Cons: Clyde Lewis 4

Teams:

Golden Lions XV: 1 Brendon Pawson, 2 Maxwell Motaung, 3 Quintusz Geyser, 4 Hendre Fourie, 5 James MacIndoe, 6 Tyler Skudder, 7 Paki Lawu, 8 Zander du Toit, 9 Justin Lambert, 10 Tiaan Botes, 11 Kagiso Nyamande, 12 Douw Scheepers, 13 Ngia Selengebe, 14 Munashe Chaitezwi, 15 Neil Hoffman, 16 Kayleb O’Donoghue, 17 Kyle Everton, 18 Tshepo Kalayamodimo, 19 Simon Dionisio, 20 Vuyane Nqaba, 21 Reece Botha, 22 Christiaan Bezuidenhout, 23 Joseph Iye.

SWD: 1 Magnus Muller, 2 Keano Hendricks, 3 Pieter Maritz, 4 Pierre-Raymond Uys, 5 Hannes Gous, 6 Abraham van Huyssteen, 7 Henco Beukes, 8 Joshua Hermanus, 9 Derick Jooste, 10 Jan Strydom, 11 Ridge Gaffley, 12 Etienne Steyn, 13 Janco Klinck, 14 Trevino Gordon, 15 Clyde Lewis, 16 Sydney Volkwyn, 17 GW Lund, 18 Brian Williams, 19 Pieter Ferreira, 20 Vernon Paulo, 21 Abre Minnie, 22 Mihlali Gxavu, 23 Joaquin Taute.

Leopards 17-6 Griquas

The Leopards bagged the only tries of the game to claim a tense 17-6 victory over a stubborn Griquas in a wet 2018 Craven Week encounter.

Andrew Rossouw and Max Williamson scored either side of half-time to secure the Leopards’ first victory of the week while handing Griquas their second defeat.

After a tense opening few minutes, SJ Oberholzer opened the scoring for Griquas with a well-taken penalty, only for the Leopards to hit back through an Andre Rossouw try. Frank-Lee Jackson added the extras for a 7-3 lead after 12 minutes.

Oberholzer’s second penalty made it a one-point game in the 17th minute before the arm-wrestle in the rain intensified. The Leopards stretched their lead to 10-6 in the 34th minute when Jackson added his first penalty.

The opening 10 minutes of the second half saw Griquas enjoy most of the possession but the Leopards remained resolute in defence to maintain their four-point lead. The Leopards built on that confidence and took the game to Griquas but the Northern Cape side stood strong for the next 15 minutes.

The result was put to bed in the 69th minute when Max Williamson spotted a gap in Griquas’ defence to score under the uprights. Jackson added the conversion to take the score to 17-6.

Scorers:

For the Leopards:
Tries: Andre Rossouw, Max Williamson
Cons: Frank-Lee Jackson 2
Pen: Frank-Lee Jackson

For Griquas:
Pens: SJ Oberholzer 2

Teams:

Leopards: 1 Kobus Burger, 2 Gistav van Staden, 3 Vernon Moagi, 4 Lwazi Gumedze, 5 De Wet Botha, 6 Ryan Burger, 7 JF Kotze, 8 Anelka Barends, 9 Estian Heyneke, 10 Isrome Phatudi, 11 Ashley Madube, 12 Xakile Manelisi, 13 Awie Visser, 14 Keenan Twigg, 15 Frank-Lee Jackson, 16 Roebert Kruger, 17 Mamello Letsoalo, 18 De Wet de Villiers, 19 Andre Rossouw, 20 Kamohelo Majola, 21 Max Williamson, 22 Johannes Fuller, 23 Gustav Erlank.

Griquas: 1 Anrich Rosenstrauch, 2 Jannie Visser, 3 Rudolph Fourie, 4 Leon Koortzen, 5 Marco van der Merwe, 6 SJ Oberholzer, 7 Venter Scholtz, 8 Johannes Viljoen, 9 Berne Engelbrecht, 10 Handre Bruwer, 11 Linton Maritz, 12 Henru Kotze, 13 Cole Arnoldus, 14 Elzandro Fredericks, 15 Jacques Marthinus, 16 Nolan Coetzee, 17 Tlotlo Madiba, 18 Johnny Markram, 19 Sello Maketlo, 20 Ruan van Loggerenberg, 21 Craig Ockhuis, 22 Godwill Romain, 23 Rowie Malgas.