Cape Town - The Blue Bulls and the Lions will have the honour of playing in the final match of the Under-18 Craven Week in Port Elizabeth after both teams recorded a brace of impressive victories at this year's tournament at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
The match will take place on Saturday at 13:40 and will be televised live on SuperSport. The rest of the 20-team field will also be in action on the day, with matches taking place at the stadium as well as two outer fields starting from 09:10.
The only other unbeaten team at this year's tournament, hosts Eastern Province, are unlucky not to have made the unofficial final after enterprising wins over the Falcons (41-17) and Boland (22-13), but they at least have the consolation of playing in the main curtain-raiser against KZN (12h10).
The Blue Bulls booked their place in the showpiece match after convincing victories over Western Province (47-27) on Tuesday and the Pumas (36-10) on Thursday. The Lions, meanwhile, beat Border 29-14 on Monday and followed that up with a hard-nosed 17-8 victory over KZN on Wednesday.
The Blue Bulls, with 12 touchdowns, are this year's joint top try-scorers alongside SWD, Limpopo and WP. In contrast, the Lions could not manage to score a four-try bonus point in either of their matches, but significantly the Gautengers have conceded just two tries – the fewest of any team.
The Blue Bulls boast the tournament's joint top point-scorer in flyhalf Ryno Eksteen, his 28 points (1 try, 10 conversions, 1 penalty) and general play making him one of the standout players of the Week thus far.
Not far behind Eksteen is Lions pivot Jaco van der Walt, his 23 points coming from one try, three conversions and four penalties.
Saturday's Fixtures – Final Day:
09:10: SWD vs Boland (Stadium)
Griffons vs Griquas CD (B field)
EP CD vs Leopards (C field)
10:40: WP vs Pumas (Stadium)
Border vs Limpopo (B field)
Namibia vs Zimbabwe (C field)
12:10: EP vs KZN (Stadium)
Falcons vs Free State (B field)
Griquas vs Border CD (C field)
13:40: Blue Bulls vs Lions (Stadium)
The match will take place on Saturday at 13:40 and will be televised live on SuperSport. The rest of the 20-team field will also be in action on the day, with matches taking place at the stadium as well as two outer fields starting from 09:10.
The only other unbeaten team at this year's tournament, hosts Eastern Province, are unlucky not to have made the unofficial final after enterprising wins over the Falcons (41-17) and Boland (22-13), but they at least have the consolation of playing in the main curtain-raiser against KZN (12h10).
The Blue Bulls booked their place in the showpiece match after convincing victories over Western Province (47-27) on Tuesday and the Pumas (36-10) on Thursday. The Lions, meanwhile, beat Border 29-14 on Monday and followed that up with a hard-nosed 17-8 victory over KZN on Wednesday.
The Blue Bulls, with 12 touchdowns, are this year's joint top try-scorers alongside SWD, Limpopo and WP. In contrast, the Lions could not manage to score a four-try bonus point in either of their matches, but significantly the Gautengers have conceded just two tries – the fewest of any team.
The Blue Bulls boast the tournament's joint top point-scorer in flyhalf Ryno Eksteen, his 28 points (1 try, 10 conversions, 1 penalty) and general play making him one of the standout players of the Week thus far.
Not far behind Eksteen is Lions pivot Jaco van der Walt, his 23 points coming from one try, three conversions and four penalties.
Saturday's Fixtures – Final Day:
09:10: SWD vs Boland (Stadium)
Griffons vs Griquas CD (B field)
EP CD vs Leopards (C field)
10:40: WP vs Pumas (Stadium)
Border vs Limpopo (B field)
Namibia vs Zimbabwe (C field)
12:10: EP vs KZN (Stadium)
Falcons vs Free State (B field)
Griquas vs Border CD (C field)
13:40: Blue Bulls vs Lions (Stadium)