WP, Blue Bulls and Border shine at Youth weeks

Cape Town - Western Province, the Blue Bulls, and Border on Friday proved their worth as the top teams in the Under-13 Coca-Cola Craven Week, Under-16 Coca-Cola Grant Khomo Week and National Girls Under-18 Week respectively as they overcame challenging final round encounters to remain unbeaten.

Western Province defeated the Sharks 12-5 to win the final match of the U13 Craven Week for the fourth year in a row, while the Blue Bulls pipped the Sharks 23-20 in the Under-16 Grant Khomo Week and Border secured a 15-10 victory against Western Province in the National Girls Under-18 Week.

The closing match of the U13 final at Paarl Gymnasium was hard-fought as both teams did their best to try to work their way onto the front foot.

The hosts dominated possession in the first half, and these efforts paid off with a well-worked try by wing Jade Filanie, who found space out wide to beat the defence.

The Sharks, however, hit back five minutes later as a well-timed pass to Londani Mpungose allowed him to score in the corner, which left the teams tied on 5-5 going into the break.

Western Province struck again shortly after half time with a strong run up-field and a handy kick-through was gathered by Reece Montsumi, who scored to push them 12-5 ahead.

The Sharks fought back with intent on attack and took the ball through phases, but the effective defence shut them out. With the clocking winding down, the Cape side once again took control of the match as they ran hard at the Sharks, but they were unable to add to their score as the their impatience on attack came at the cost of errors and turnovers at crucial times.

The grand finale of the U16 Coca-Cola Grant Khomo was equally tight.

The Sharks dominated territory and possession early on and showed patience on attack, and this paid off as they scored the first points compliments of a try by Celimpilo Gumede.

But the Blue Bulls levelled the scores at 7-7 three minutes later as Jurich Claasens touched down for them. With neither team giving an inch on defence both sides opted for penalty goals to inflate their scores as the half progressed, with the Blue Bulls slotting over two penalties to only one by the Sharks for a 13-10 halftime lead.

The Blue Bulls added their third penalty after the break and then added their second try after a series of phases to stretch their score to 23 points.

The Sharks, however, showed composure on attack by taking a penalty before fighting back with a try in the corner minutes before full time to reduce the deficit on the scoreboard to 23-20.

In a thrilling end to the match the Sharks opted for a penalty goal on the stroke of full time, but the attempt fell short, which sealed the three-point win for the Pretoria side.

In the National Girls U18 tournament, meanwhile, Border edged the Western Province 15-10 to emerge as the top team in the tournament at the Northern Cape High School in Kimberley.

Border opened up their campaign with a victories against the Blue Bulls and Eastern Province to book their place in the final match against Western Province, while the Cape side came out tops against Eastern Province and Boland before taking on Border.

The final match was close, but Border managed to build on the success of their senior team as they held their nerve to secure the victory.

U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week final round results (Friday, 8 July):

Namibia 18 (10) – 14 (7) Old Mutual Zimbabwe

Griquas 14 (5) – 3 (3) Border

Eastern Province 48 (24) – 0 (0) Border CD

Konica Minolta Free State 31 (12) – 26 (19) Griffons

TW Profile Services Valke 20 (5) – 38 (33) Itec Blue Bulls

SWD 23 (5) – 14 (14) Bidvest Golden Lions

Forever Resorts Limpopo Blue Bulls 7 (7) – 7 (7) Boland

Leopards 7 (7) – 14 (14) Pumas

DHL Western Province 12 (5) – 5 (5) Sharks

U16 Cola-Cola Grant Khomo Week final round results (Friday, 8 July):

Namibia 5 (0) – 15 (5) Zimbabwe

DHL Western Province 45 (14) – 8 (8) Eastern Province

Limpopo Blue Bulls 33 (5) – 17 (17) Valke

Griffons 57 (31) – 0 (0) Border CD

Bidvest Golden Lions 34 (19) – 25 (18) SWD

Boland 31 (17) – 10 (5) Border

Pumas 35 (7) – 14 (7) Leopards

Boland XV 16 (3) – 26 (12) Free State

DHL Western Province 25 (10) – 19 (5) Griquas

Sharks 20 (10) – 23 (13) Blue Bulls

National Girls U18 Week final round results (Friday, 8 July):

SWD 19 - 5 Pumas

Valke 0 - 40 Free State

Griquas 17 - 5 KZN

Leopards 48 - 7 Griffons

Boland 12 - 15 Blue Bulls

Limpopo Blue Bulls 12 - 15 Golden Lions

Zimbabwe 5 - 10 Eastern Province