Hosts Eastern Province and DHL Western Province delivered a thunderous finish to a sensational opening day of the U16 Grant Khomo Rugby Week at Grey High in Gqeberha on Monday.
On a day which produced some thrilling rugby, WP finally put away their Eastern Cape rivals in the closing stages to win 38-25 and lay down a marker for the rest of the teams.
The players will enjoy an off-day on Tuesday, with the action resuming on Wednesday morning. While Joandre van Jaarsveld’s EP team were full of courage and commitment, WP were clinical at the breakdown and blessed with dangerous runners, who often had the home defence at full stretch.
Nonetheless, EP were in the match until the final stages, but eventually conceded two tries late in the game to let the result get away from them.
In fact, trailing 31-25, they were threatening an attack when a move broke down in midfield and WP were able to gain possession to dash through for a try under the poles in what was a decisive score.
For EP, centre Erin Nelson was a handful in midfield, crossing for two tries ensure WP had to work right until the final whistle.
Earlier, the WP XV underlined the strength of schools rugby in the region when they made the Blue Bulls sweat all the way for a narrow 26-24 victory.
For a time it appeared that a major upset was on the cards when WP XV’s Wian Delport produced brilliant run to outpace the Bulls defence to give his team a 24-23 lead with nine minutes left.
But although the Bulls missed one penalty, they soon forced another one under their opponents’ post and this time Tilon Baron made no mistake to regain the lead 26-24.
The gutsy WP XV side never stopped trying and launched another desperate attack, only for the Bulls defenders to produce a match-saving tackle over the sideline just metres from their tryline, with the hooter having sounded.
The clash between Sanlam Boland and the Lions was a cracking affair that went down to the wire as the latter also made a desperate bid to snatch victory.
Trailing 21-16, the Lions needed a converted a try to win the match after a commendable fightback from a 15-3 deficit at the break.
They were given a glimmer of hope when awarded a penalty, which they kicked into touch for a lineout 20 metres out. From there, though, a movement through the backline broke down with a knock-on, creating a moment of ecstasy for the Bolanders.
The Sharks also had a match to remember after trailing the Free State outfit 17-7 at the break, hitting back to win 26-20.
Somehow the KwaZulu-Natal outfit shrugged off the opening period to break the game open with three tries after the break, while limiting their opponents to just three points for a notable victory.
The opening day results were:
- Free State XV bt Border Country Districts 29-7
- Griffons bt Valke 17-15
- Border bt Zimbabwe 26-20
- Pumas bt Griquas 39-14
- Sanlam Boland bt Lions 21-16
- Sharks bt Free State 26-20
- Blue Bulls bt WP XV 26-24
- DHL bt EP 38-25
- Leopards bt Limpopo Blue Bulls 40-7
- SWD bt Namibia 26-6
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