U17 7s Day 1
The defending champions Western Province and their neighbours, Boland, stamped their authority early on with a full house of victories in the pool stages.
South Western Districts, Golden Lions, Blue Bulls, Griquas, Valke and Pumas also had fair starts to the competition as they won two of their three matches.
The opening day proved to be a try festival with 162 tries and 1024 points scored in total. Boland led the try-scoring statistics with 15, followed closely by the Golden Lions who touched down 14 times.
The competition features 16 teams, which includes South Africa's 14 provincial unions, Limpopo and African neighbours, Namibia.
Each team played three pool matches on the opening day, which determined whether they would participate in the Cup or Bowl quarterfinals on Saturday.
To the delight of the players and fans, the Springbok Sevens team and coach Neil Powell attended the Friday’s matches, where they showed their support for the next generation of Sevens players and mingled with the crowd.
Western Province defeated the Griffons 35-12, KwaZulu-Natal 10-5 and the Pumas 29-12, while Boland beat Namibia 24-14, Griquas 52-0 and Limpopo 19-10.
The Blue Bulls and Golden Lions also had a solid start to the tournament as they finished the opening day unbeaten as they both defeated Border and the Leopards, while Gauteng sides drew their encounter 19-19.
South Western Districts, meanwhile, defeated Eastern Province 40-0 and the Valke 40-17, but went down 10-5 against the Free State in their second game.
The Pumas also won their first two matches against KwaZulu-Natal and the Griffons, but hosts Western Province ended their winning run in the final match of the day.
The Valke, meanwhile, defeated the Free State 19-12 and Eastern Province 47-14 but went down against South Western Districts in a disappointing end to their day, while Griquas beat the Limpopo and Namibia, but suffered a heavy 52-0 defeat against Boland.
Results, Day 1
Blue Bulls vs Border, 26-22
Blue Bulls vs Golden Lions, 19-19
Blue Bulls vs Leopards, 38-12
Boland vs Griquas, 52-0
Boland vs Limpopo, 19-10
Boland vs Namibia, 24-14
Border vs Leopards, 45-7
Eastern Province vs Free State, 26-19
Free State vs South Western Districts, 10-5
Golden Lions vs Border, 24-0
Golden Lions vs Leopards, 43-7
Griffons vs KwaZulu-Natal, 26-12
Griquas vs Limpopo, 31-24
Griquas vs Namibia, 28-26
Limpopo vs Namibia, 35-14
Pumas vs Griffons, 26-24
Pumas vs KwaZulu-Natal, 36-7
South Western Districts vs Eastern Province, 40-0
South Western Districts vs Valke, 40-17
Valke vs Eastern Province, 47-14
Valke vs Free State, 19-12
Western Province vs Griffons, 35-12
Western Province vs KwaZulu-Natal, 10-5
Western Province vs Pumas, 29-12
Issued by SARU Corporate Affairs
