SARU on Grant Khomo Day 2
Western Province and the Blue Bulls on Tuesday took major steps toward contesting the unofficial final of the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week on Thursday as they produced another round of classy displays in the top matches of the day.
The Cape-based side were in fine form from the kick-off against Eastern Province, as they capitalised on the opposition’s mistakes and backed their pace and skill on attack for their 34-22 victory. Their domination started in the third minute with Taigh Schoor crossing the try-line for the first of five first-half tries, which earned them a 31-8 lead at the break. Eastern Province, however, regrouped in the second half and produced a solid performance on attack and defence to force their way back into the game. This determined effort limited Western Province to a single penalty in the second half, while Eastern Province scored two converted tries to increase their tally to three.
The Blue Bulls also outclassed their Gauteng rivals, the Golden Lions, 42-14 thanks to their power and slick handling skills. This earned them six tries in total, four of which were scored in the first half, as they ran circles around the Lions for their 28-0 half time lead. Similarly to the opening day, however, the Lions bounced back in the second half by retaining possession and working their way into the Bulls half, which allowed them to cross the chalk twice. But the Bulls matched this to push the game out of the Lions reach.
In the other matches South Western Districts, Border, Namibia and KwaZulu-Natal also continued their winning ways as they too registered back-to-back victories in the series.
South Western Districts produced a quality display in which they scored two tries in nine minutes to cancel out the Pumas early 7-0 lead. They built on this impressive form in the second half with four tries in the last 10 minutes to increase their total to six tries – three of which were scored by Christo Hamman. Hamman also made his presence felt with the boot as he slotted over four conversions to take his total for the match to 23 points.
Border, meanwhile, slotted over a late second- half penalty against Boland to break the 13-13 deadlock with a few minutes on the clock and registered a 16-13 win, while Namibia’s three tries to the Leopards’ one secured their 19-8 win.
From SARU
