U19: Blue Bulls setting the pace

The Blue Bulls continued to lead the charge in the Under-19 Provincial championship this past weekend as they extended their unbeaten run to four matches, while Western Province ended their losing streak.

The Blue Bulls reigned supreme against the Golden Lions in a table-topping clash at Loftus Versfeld with the side edging through for a 15-12 victory, while Western Province thrashed Border 62-0 at Newlands and the Sharks defeated the Leopards 24-17 in Potchefstroom.

The Lions' defeat marked their first in the series, while Western Province's victory ended a three match losing streak.

Blue Bulls 15-12 Golden Lions

The first half at Loftus Versfeld proved to be a tight tussle as log-leaders, the Blue Bulls and Golden Lions threw everything at each other.

Such was the closeness of the match the first points were scored in the 30th minute with Lions fullback Barend Herbst crossing the tryline.

Their ill-discipline, however, handed the home team three shots at goal, but flyhalf Juan-Phillip Smith converted only one two minutes before the break to trail the Lions 5-3.

The Lions again had the first say in the second half as No.8 Jano Venter powered his way over the tryline and Brandan Hewit converted to hand the team a 10-5 lead. But two tries by the Blue Bulls in the last 20 minutes, one of which was converted by Smith, allowed the team to stretch their unbeaten run in the series to four matches.

Scorers:

Blue Bulls:

Tries: Droste, Schoeman

Con: Smith

Pen: Smith

Golden Lions:

Tries: Herbst, Venter

Con: Hewit

Teams:

Blue Bulls: 15 Ganfried May, 14 Caswell September Khoza, 13 Leighton-Ras Marcelino van Wyk, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Keagon Gordon, 10 Juan-Phillip Smith, 9 Jacobus Pieter Wolmarans, 8 Cornelius Haman Cooper, 7 Christiaan Hendrik Massyn, 6 Hendrik Willem Viljoen, 5 Nicolaas Jacobus Janse van Rensburg, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Cornelius Wilhelmus Els, 1 Pierre Schoeman (captain).

Replacements: 16 Arno van Wyk, 17 Nqoba Mxoli, 18 Jean Droste, 19 Ngwako Ralepelle, 20 Cameron Anthony, 21 Marcus Avril Kleinbooi, 22 Hermanus de Klerk, 23 Arend Johannes Bannink.

Golden Lions: 15 Barend Daniel Herbst, 14 Chad McKay, 13 Koch Peter Marx, 12 Daniel Joseph Arries, 11 Carlisle Nel, 10 Brandan Hewit, 9 Akhona Sihunu, 8 Jano Venter, 7 Cyle Justin Brink, 6 Sikhumbuzo Thabo Mabuza (captain), 5 Jean-Pierre Du Preez, 4 Victor Kutlwano Sekekete, 3 Pieter Ernst Scholtz, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Dylan Smith.

Replacements: 16 Rynard Daniel Snyman, 17 Francois Petrus van Heerden, 18 Quinton Terblanche, 19 Jaun Jacques Vorster, 20 Christiaan Jan Petrus Meyer, 21 Steven du Plessis, 22 Calvin Wade Smith, 23 Kyle van Dalen.

Western Province 62-0 Border

Western Province delivered a fantastic all-round performance against Border to register their first victory of the tournament at Newlands.

So dominant were the hosts, they ran in a total of nine tries, while flyhalf Christopher Smith had a good day with the boot as he slotted over seven conversions and a penalty for a personal total of 17 points.

Western Province started the clash with a bang and ran in their first try in the second minute. They accumulated two more by the 24th minute and earned their bonus point try on the stroke of half time for a 31-0 half time lead.

Unfortunately for Border they had no reply and leaked another five tries in the second half.

Scorers:

Western Province:

Tries: Mouton, De Bruin, Worrall, Bredell, Mvelase-Julyan, Van der Smit, Schoonraad, Ferreira, Meiring

Cons: Smith 7

Pen: Smith

Border:

None

Teams:

Western Province: 15 Jason Worrall, 14 Christiaan Jacobus Mouton, 13 Lindokuhle Michael Mvelase-Julyan, 12 Jason Michael Morris, 11 Dalen Kristan Goliath, 10 Christopher Smith, 9 Solomon Petrus Ferreira, 8 Steven Meiring, 7 Luke van der Smit, 6 Gareth Theunis de Bruin, 5 Jan-Frederik Uys (captain), 4 Sebastian Roche Ferreira, 3 Michael van Tonder, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 Liam Chad Hendricks.

Replacements: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Nathan Gogela, 18 Wesley Edward Adonis, 19 Sebastian Negri, 20 Joshua Patrick Moon, 21 Pieter Eduard Schoonraad, 22 Jonathan Bredell, 23 James Nicholas Verity-Amm.

Border: 15 Michael Haley, 14 Sthembisa Ngwenya, 13 Sibanye Bukani, 12 Riaan Esterhuyzen (captain), 11 Charl Carelse, 10 Werner Barnard, 9 Iwan Swart, 8 Oliver Cracknell, 7 Funani Brayan Mabala, 6 Michael Jan Hansen, 5 Charl Werner Swanepoel, 4 Conor-Terrah Brockschmidt, 3 Johannes Jonker, 2 Marius Stander, 1 Johannes Liebenberg.

Replacements: 16 Bryce Mark Rennie, 17 Ntando Mpofana, 18 Keenan Swanepoel, 19 Soso Xakalashe, 20 Johan Gericke, 21 Devon van Eeden, 22 Luzuko Mafu, 23 Neil Francois Schoombee.

Leopards 17-24 Sharks

The clash in Potchefstroom proved to be close despite the Sharks building up an encouraging 15-5 lead at the break.

The Durban-based team showed their intent with a try by centre Sandile Kubeka in the 12th minute, but the Leopards hit back six minutes later with a try of their own.

With the teams closely matched in terms of skill the next few minutes proved to be an arm-wrestle, but a late try by the Sharks in the dying minutes of the first half handed them a fair lead.

The Leopards, however, came out fighting after the break and they capitalised on their point-scoring chances to increase their try tally to three.

But their discipline cost them, as the Sharks slotted over three second-half penalties to add to one in the first half, which secured their third victory of the tournament.

Scorers:

Leopards:

Tries: Du Plooy 2, Steenkamp

Con: Swart

Sharks:

Tries: Le Roux, Kubeka

Con: Willemse

Pens: Willemse 2, Du Plessis 2

Under-19 provincial championship standings (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 - 4 - 4 - 0 - 0 - 166 - 43 - 123 - 23 - 6 - 0 - 3 - 19

Golden Lions - 4 - 3 - 1 - 0 - 93 - 69 - 24 - 12 - 9 - 1 - 2 - 15

Sharks - 4 - 3 - 1 - 0 - 124 - 93 - 31 - 15 - 12 - 0 - 2 - 14

Leopards - 5 - 2 - 3 - 0 - 122 - 161 - -39 - 19 - 20 - 2 - 3 - 13

Western Province - 4 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 117 - 80 - 37 - 14 - 10 - 1 - 1 - 8

Free State - 4 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 92 - 112 - -20 - 13 - 15 - 0 - 2 - 8

Border - 5 - 0 - 5 - 0 - 59 - 215 - -156 - 7 - 31 - 0 - 0 - 0

Top point scorers:

52 - Kobus Marais (two tries, 18 conversions, two penalties)

42 - Christopher Smith (12 cons, six pens)

39 - Jean-Luc du Plessis (two tries, dour cons, seven pens)