Earlier in the week the Longhair and I visited the home of rugby in Port Elizabeth – Boet Erasmus. It will always be the Boet to me. The field is overgrown and we actually saw someone park his 4×4 in the middle of the main field and take photographs of it – presumably to prove to his wife that he WAS in the bush and not having an affair. Who knows?
Broken dreams litter that once hallowed ground and one can only wonder that should our Kings (Queens) continue on their losing path maybe, one day soon, men looking to prove to their wives that they were not having an affair will have one more overgrown and desolate stadium to chose from.
It is a sad day when one realises that you have to camp on the opposing side’s tryline if you want to get photographs and footage of anyone scoring tries.
And that is what I did. Proving my assumption correct was the final scoreline (37-22) and tries scored with the Cheetahs scoring four to the Kings three tries. Maybe we should rename the EP Kings to the EP Queens but that would be an insult to female (and male) Queens. What to do, what to do?
Free State opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Cheetahs flyhalf Willie Du Plessis slotted a lengthy, diagonal penalty.
Fifteen minutes into play, Du Plessis was at it again converting another penalty awarded as a result of a dangerous tackle.
After 26 minutes a fine try by Cheetahs centre Francois Venter who collected a final pass from strong-running left wing Raymond Rhule.
Cheetah’s Scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius scored Free State’s second try in the 45th minute after some good inter-passing between the forwards and the backs.
Sixty minutes in and the Cheetah’s scored off a scrum in the middle of the EP Kings’ 22m area. Pretorius opted to go left and Du Plessis took advantage of some poor EP Queens defence to score a try which he also converted to move the visitors into a 30-15 lead.
After seventy one minutes, Rhule put paid to the Kings hopes when he scored Free State’s bonus-point try. Replacement Pieter-Steyn de Wet slotted the conversion.
Eastern Province have now lost seven consecutive matches in their first year in the Currie Cup Premier Division and also managed to further blot their copybook with two yellow cards. Hooker Martin Ferreira, on Currie Cup debut, was first off for 10 minutes shortly before halftime while lock Darron Nell followed him in the 52nd minute.
But – the one shining light for the EP Queens was when EP Kings left wing Dukisa Ntabeni scored the try of the match, side-stepping numerous opponents before out-sprinting the cover-defence to score under the posts. Surely a King amongst Queens?
Scorers:
- EP Kings (10) 22: Tries: Dukisa Ntabeni, Siyanda Grey, Dwayne Jenner – Conversions: Gary van Aswegen (1), Scott van Breda (1) – Penalties: Gary van Aswegen (1).
- Toyota Free State Cheetahs (16) 37: Tries: Francois Venter, Sarel Pretorius, Willie du Plessis, Raymond Rhule – Conversions: Willie du Plessis (3), Pieter-Steyn de Wet (1); Penalties – Willie du Plessis (3).
The EP Kings travel to Durban to play against the Cell C Sharks on Saturday 27 September at Growthpoint Kings Park – kickoff is at 14h00.
Absa Currie Cup Premier Division log table:
| TEAM | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | LOSS BONUS | TRIES BONUS | POINTS |
| DHL Western Province | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 244 | 126 | 118 | 30 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 29 |
| Xerox Golden Lions | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 246 | 165 | 81 | 30 | 18 | 0 | 5 | 25 |
| Cell C Sharks | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 180 | 155 | 25 | 16 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 20 |
| Steval Pumas | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 183 | 169 | 14 | 20 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 19 |
| Toyota FS Cheetahs | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 191 | 182 | 9 | 22 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 19 |
| Vodacom Blue Bulls | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 157 | 195 | -38 | 14 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 14 |
| GWK Griquas | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 155 | 215 | -60 | 15 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| EP Kings | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 131 | 280 | -149 | 17 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
And just for good measure the other part of Eastern Province – Border – is also languishing at the bottom of the First Division table – WATS going ON here guys? Click here to see the First Division log.
Alan Straton
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