Champs Pukke move into Last Four

Defending champions NWU-Pukke will play Springs and 2008 finalists College Rovers will face Hamilton's in the semifinals of the 2009 SAA Club Championships at Tukkies on Thursday.

FNB Pukke, the 2009 Varsity Cup finalists, won through to the Last Four with a hard-fought 44-34 (half-time 20-22) win over determined Boland champions Rawsonville, whilst Valke champions Springs overwhelmed Border's Buffalo 51-19.

Earlier in the day, KZN champions College Rovers beat Eastern Province champions Park 52-22 to set up a mouth-watering first semifinal against Hamilton's, after the WP Super League champions scored 25 unanswered points in coming from behind to beat Golden Lions champions Pirates 39-27 (half-time 9-20) in the first match of the day.

Both semifinals will be broadcast live on SuperSport, with the Rovers-Hamilton's match kicking-off at 4pm and the Pukke-Springs fixture at 6pm.

In the main match of the afternoon, Pukke showed their intentions early on when they opened the scoring with a driving maul try by lock Johan de Kock in the 10th minute, converted by fullback Theuns Kotze.

Far from being intimidated by their more illustrious opponents, Rawsonville responded with an excellent try by left-wing Timmy Francisco, converted by flyhalf Eric Groenewald, before Kotze regained the lead for the students with a penalty goal in the 20th minute.

Groenewald, however, levelled the scores after 26 minutes with his first penalty before the match was turned on its head when replacement Nazeem van Sitters intercepted to score under the posts for Groenewald to convert.

Pukke cut the deficit on the 30-minute mark when their outstanding No.8 Willem van der Wal, the Man of the Match, put Kotzé away for a try in the left-hand corner to make it 17-15.

Van der Wal was then on hand to help his side regain the lead when he dotted down on the stroke of half-time, but Van Sitters scored his second try to put Rawsonville back in front, much to the delight of the crowd.

The second half started off in frenetic fashion with Pukke upping the pace of the game and recycling the ball through a number of phases. They were rewarded when Kotze cut through unopposed for his second try, which he converted, to make it 27-22.

Scrumhalf Janus Terblanche then provided what seemed to be the killer blow when he dived over three minutes later after more excellent continuity by the Potchefstroom students - one of the top sides in the Varsity Cup.

But Francisco scored another wonderful try on the hour mark to cut the deficit to five points, before scrumhalf Ricardo Jones's conversion once again made it a three-point game.

Francisco very nearly scored his hat-trick two minutes later - a score which might have changed the course of the match - but he knocked on a metre from the line after he once again showed his great pace to hunt down a hack-ahead.

Play became increasingly scrappy as the clock wound down, but Pukke won a crucial penalty that enabled them to kick for the corner to set up a lineout drive.

Rawsonville prop Syrel Buurman was sin-binned by referee Jason Jaftha for going off-side at the resultant driving maul, which allowed Pukke lock Thabo Molete to dive over and seal the win.

Puk flyhalf Cecil Dumond - who played for the Leopards in the Currie Cup this season - added the extra points, before scoring his team's seventh try on the stroke of full-time.

But there was just enough time left for Rawsonville to have the last say, centre Whaliet Heyns rounding off a good movement to score the Bolanders' fifth try in the fading light.

Pukke's scorers:
Tries: Johan de Kock, Theuns Kotze 2, Willem van de Wal, Janus Terblanche, Thabo Molete, Cecil Dumond
Cons: Kotze 2, Dumond
Pen: Kotze

Meanwhile, Kuruman will play FNB Shimlas and Great Brak River will meet Pretoria Police in Thursday's Plate semifinals.

Kuruman advanced thanks to a 23-19 (half-time 14-7) win over Mpumalanga champions Middelburg, whilst Shimlas beat Impala 32-21 (half-time 14-7). The two sides will meet in the first semifinal, kicking off at 1pm.

Great Brak beat Limpopo invitees Noordelikes 31-29 (half-time 9-24), while Pretoria Police beat Welkom Rovers 54-35 (half-time 33-21). The second semifinal starts at 2.30pm.

Varsity Cup team Shimlas lost their opening match on Sunday to Park (going down 26-27), but they could end the Club Champs on a high with the Plate title.