SARU's U19 Competition Starts
Blue Bulls plays Western Province in Pretoria, the Leopards play Free State in Potchefstroom and Eastern Province play the Golden Lions in Port Elizabeth.
In 2016 the Golden Lions won the Under-19 competition when they thrashed Western Province 60-19 in the final. In the semifinals Western Province beat Free State 30-15 and the Golden Lions beat the Blue Bulls 34-24 in Pretoria after Western Province and the Blue Bulls had topped the log. The Golden Lions were third and Free State fourth, followed by the Sharks, Eastern Province and then the Leopards who lost all 12 of their matches.
Western Province appear to have a strong side with seven of last years SA Schools players (the names of their schools in brackets) – Salmaan Moerat (Paarl Boys' High), who captains the side, Sazi Sandi (St Andrew's in Grahamstown), Schalk Erasmus (Affies), BJ Dixon (Paul Roos), Charl Serdyn (Paarl Boys' High), Muller Uys (Paarl Gim) and Mike Mavovana (Rondebosch.
The Blue Bulls have five players who played SA Schools last year – Richman Gora (Welkom Gimnasium), JC Pretorius (HTS Middelburg), Ryno Pieterse (Garsfontein), Mornay Smit (Eldoiraigne and Khwezi Mafu (Dale). Cabous Eloff (Affies) played prop for SA Schools in 2015.
Teams
Blue Bulls: 15 Jerome Bossr, 14 Zandré Kruger, 134 Stefan Coetzee, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Litha Nkula, 10 Theo Boshoff, 9 Richman Gora, 8 Ewart Potgieter, 7 Prince Gaoseb, 6 JC Pretorius (captain), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Ryno Pieterse, 3 Mornay Smit, 2 Werner Fourie, 1 Luke Fortuin.
Replacements: 16 Marco Fuhri, 17 Dewald Maritz, 18 Cabous Eloff, 19 Raymond Nel, 20 Khwezi Mafu, 21 Ginter Smuts, 22 Xander Kruger, 23 Christian Strydom
Coach: Dewey Swartbooi
Western Province Under-19: 15 Marco Labuschagne, 14 Mike Mavovana, 13 Lyle Hendricks, 12 Henlo Marais, 11 Sam Phiri, 10 Francke Botha, 9 Labib Kannemeyer, 8 Muller Uys, 7 Shaine Orderson, 6 Charl Serdyn, 5 BJ Dixon, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Schalk Erasmus, 1 Leon Lyons.
Replacements: 16 Daniel Jooste, 17 Reece Bezuidenhout, 18 Adam Neethling, 19 Alex Halverson, 20 Gift Dlamini, 21 Branden de Kock, 22 Dominic Coetzer, 23 Nathan Nkutu.
Coach: Nazeem Adams
Under-19 Provincial Championship Fixtures, 8 July 2017
Blue Bulls vs Western Province at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Ricus van der Hoven
Leopards vs Free State at Olën Park, Potchefstroom
Referee: Stephan Geldenhuys
Eastern Province vs Golden Lions at Crusader RFC, Port Elizabeth
Referee: Ruhan Meiring
