Bondedag Results
Not a great level of skill
The unions in the central part of South Africa had their pre-Craven Week warm-ups in Potchefstroom on Saturday at North West University.
The skills levels of the players were too low for it to be an exciting day's rugby.
The match of the day was that between the Blue Bulls and the Golden Lions which the young Blue Bulls won 30-22, scoring four tries to three.
At one stage the Golden Lions led 22-9 but the Blue Bulls' two tries ion the last five minutes gave them the match.
Free State, with their complement of 13 Grey College players, were disappointing in their match with Mpumalanga.
The match between the Griffons and the Falcons was a seesaw affair. The Griffons, for whom the players from the Virginia Sportskool were outstanding, led 21-15 at half-time but early in the second half the Falcons were ahead 25-21 till the Griffons scored two tries to win. Of the try-scorers for the Griffons, Dabien Draghoender, Romano Sebia, James de Kock and Tertius Maarman are from Virginia Sportskool.
Griquas attacked from the start and at half-time led 22-8, before the Leopards, with their powerful pack, fought back.
PJ Vermeulen of Griquas was named the Player of the Day, an outstanding centre who in April played for the South African Under-19 team which won the IRB's World Championship. (For a profile of PJ Vermeulen, click here.)
Other players who caught the eye were flyhalves Justin St Jerry (Golden Lions) and Ruan Boshoff of Mpumalanga (to read his profile, click here), prop Zander de Kock of the Falcons (for his profile click here), centres JW Jonker of Free State and Stefan Watermeyer of the Blue Bulls, fullback Reinhard Kruger of the Blue Bulls, scrumhalves Henko Groenewald of the Leopards and Ruan Snyman of the Blue Bulls
Scorers:
Free State vs Mpumalanga, 17-0
For Free State:
Tries: Wesley Daniels, JW Jonker,
Cons: JW Jonker 2
Pen: JW Jonker
Griffons vs Falcons, 32-25
For Griffons:
Tries: JG Gouws, Dabien Draghoender, Romano Sebia, James de Kock, Tertius Maarman
Cons: Alex Vorster 4
For Falcons:
Tries: Franco Booysen, Jacques Botha, Martin Thompson
Cons: Douw Steyn 2
Pens: Douw Steyn 2
Griquas vs Leopards, 32-18
For Griquas:
Tries: Divan van Zyl, Werner van Staden, Rowan Walters
Cons: Theuns Kotzé 3
Pens: Theuns Kotzé, Jacques Roberts
For Leopards:
Tries: Pieter Maritz, Jannes Britz, Hendrik Roodt
Pen: Burton Francis
Blue Bulls vs Golden Lions, 30-22
For Blue Bulls:
Tries: Omphile Marothodi, Stefan Watermeyer, Pieter Meyer, Wynand Willis
Cons: Clinton Lang 2
Pens: Clinton Lang 2
For Golden Lions:
Tries: Ghaliel Markus. Gordon, Thomas, Johan van Rensburg
Cons: Christian van den Berg 2
Pens: Christian van den Berg
To look at the Craven Week teams, click here.