u19 Fixtures and Results
| 03-Aug | Sharks | 28 | 29 | Golden Lions | Mr Price Kings Park, Durban |
| 04-Aug | Leopards | 27 | 24 | Western Province | Profert Olën Park, Potch |
| 04-Aug | Free State | 99 | 3 | SWD Eagles | Free State Stadium, Bloem |
| 10-Aug | Blue Bulls | 13 | 8 | Leopards | Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria |
| 11-Aug | Golden Lions | 25 | 21 | Free State Cheetahs | Coca-Cola Park, Jozi |
| 11-Aug | Western Province | 16 | 6 | Sharks | Newland, Cape Town |
u19 Table
| # | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | BP | TOTAL |
| 1 | Leopards | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 106 | 98 | 8 | 14 | 13 | 2 | 14 |
| 2 | Blue Bulls | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 145 | 45 | 100 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
| 3 | Sharks | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 112 | 48 | 64 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 11 |
| 4 | Western Province | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 67 | 56 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| 5 | Golden Lions | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 110 | 105 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 9 |
| 6 | Free State | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 146 | 73 | 73 | 19 | 10 | 2 | 6 |
| 7 | SWD Eagles | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 267 | -261 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 0 |
The Leopards are the unlikely leaders of the ABSA under-19 competition four weeks in. The team from the North West Province has however now earned a lot of street credit thanks to a come from behind 27-24 win at home against Western Province. Although it might be regarded as an upset of sorts, the result is by no means a huge surprise. The Leopards are always going to match-up well against a team that cannot dominate up front. Next up for the Leopards is a short trip up to Pretoria for possibly the toughest assignment of the season to date, a game against a wounded Bulls team.
The Bulls have had much time to iron out the problems they had in a 20-16 defeat at Newlands a fortnight ago. Their emphasis will be to create more try scoring opportunities, bring the big ball carriers into the game more and focus on set-pieces especially mauls from lineouts. It’s interesting that two areas of improvement pave the way for forward ascendency. The Bulls once again have a huge pack of forwards to do the job. Big Irne Herbst (Klofies) returns at lock meaning Jacques du Plessis (Ermelo)moves back to blindside flank while mobile Glenwood hooker Jacques Taylor rotates with Theuns Reynolds (Monnas). The embarrassment of riches in the Bulls ranks also has Paul Janse van Rensburg and Jannis Kirsten (both Affies), two players that could have started for any other under-19 team, bracketed as potential reserves. Although the Bulls have a formidable backline, so do the Leopards, so expect the Bulls pack to take this game away from the Leopards and not necessarily the backs.
The Sharks lost by a single point (29-28) to the Lions but crucially it was an all-important home game that they went down in. Emerging as the hero from this encounter was Lions right wing PJ Walters. The Upington boy was identified as a potential weakness in defence due to his sluggishness but possibly not enough attention was placed on his attacking abilities, particularly his strength on his feet. The Lions worked two well executed set moves to free up a bit of space for Walters in the game but with much still to do on both occasions, the powerful winger made mincemeat out of Sharks tackles and scored two good tries. The Sharks seem to have a tackling weak point when teams attack the outside left. Next opponents WP are a team that like to spin the ball around which is bound to call on the likes of Alcino Izaaks (Namibia) and Sean Robinson (Klofies) to show more commitment in tackles. Apart from tightening up of first time defence, the Sharks desperately need to get ball and retain it. One way of getting ball is the lineout. Here drastic improvement is required. Throw in accuracy was poor at Kingspark last Friday. With Klofies and SA Schools star Morne du Plessis (Klofies) ruled out with concussion, it’s now up to relatively unknown Selbornian Warrick Venter to pick up the slack and carry the team’s setpiece ambitions. The Sharks will take comfort in knowing that the Western Cape side are not one who will dominate the tight loose exchanges, so the chance to come away with a win is very realistic. News coming out of Cape Town that Affies fetcher Eital Breydenkamp is out will also be welcomed. The Sharks were second best at the breakdown against the Lions. Not helping the Durban based team’s cause is the season ending injury to no.8 Jean Pretorius from Sentraal, which thins out the backrow quality even more. The Sharks juniors really need a few players to now step up and develop into big ball carriers.
As hinted the Western Province tight five are not going to scare any team very easily. However Province’s game is not necessarily focused on bashing their opponents into submission either. Rather expect a mobile unit that holds its own, to try and lay the platform for some very exciting backs. The WP pack does receive a huge boost in the form of returning Paul Roos old boy Andreas Dercksen. He’s a player that can carry the ball with purpose. Hooker Freddy Kirsten (Boishaai) is another highly regarded forward. The midfield contest is a mouth-watering one. The dangerous combo of playmaker Janco Gunther (Klofies) and flashy Justin Geduld (Tygerburg) are up against much bigger and stronger opponents in the form of Garath Meikle (Zim) and returning Tyler Fisher (Westville). It’s almost a kind of brains versus brawn contest in the making. With the Sharks expected to hold their own up front, their backline should get front-foot ball chances to punch holes and hurt WP. Turning this into tries, might not be as easy though. Province has been the most selfish defenders in the competition to date, conceding only five tries in total.
The Lions will be favourites to beat the Cheetahs, simply based on being at home and the poor start to the season of the latter. In Durban, the Lions lacked creativity in general play but had good structure throughout the game, did what they had to in the set-pieces, competed well on the ground and when push came to shove they forced the Sharks into points conceding mistakes. If anything, the Lions coaching staff will strive for more innovation and better defending against counterattacks where the Sharks clearly had an edge on them.
The Cheetahs come off a crazy 99-3 smashing of SWD. Very little can be taken out of such a one sided game. However in Durban, a few basic defensive lapses in the second half cost the Cheetahs dearly, so one suspects they have honed in on correcting this. Defensive communication and organisation at the breakdown, particularly when the threat of opponent quickball is a realistic one is paramount. Failures here let the Cheetahs down badly at Kingspark. The contest up front against the Lions will be one to savour. Two packs with similar styles of play are bound to result in a big physical battle with forceful collisions and bone-crunching tackles. Possibly the presence of the likes of Kwagga Smit (HTS Middelburg), De Wet Meyer (Klofies) and Eugene le Maitre (Marais Viljoen) will swing matters the Lions way in the battle up front.
@BoishaaiPa,i thought the wp pack was very good in the loose and their counter rucks worked well,the wp front row replacements scrummed better than the starting front row, i thought,sharks got 2 tightheads early,but when the replacements came on things changed,i thought the two packs were very similar in strength,sharks bad decisions making and handling kept them under pressure , and that cost them
@beet: WP dont have a pack that wil shunt opposition all over the park, but they will not so easily be shunted around either. Feedback from the captain (and the one who scored the try from that overthrow at the lineout!) is that teams underestimate their forward pack because there are no big Schoolboy names..however..they have surprized the the Bulls and Lions so far…and now the Sharks as well.
so are we going to see Marne in thsi bunch?? wasnt this why he came down here
@QC86: Thanks for the feedback. The Sharks u19 are now outside the top 4 which is par for the course at this time of year. Lots of hard work ahead. But a very interesting season unfolding. I think most assumed the Bulls would top the log but no one predicted that they would get so much resistance and as a result its still very unclear who the best team is. Makes for an interesting season. 16-6 on a bad Newlands pitch isn’t a bad result. Pressure is however on to do the deed against the Bulls this weekend.
Its pleasing to hear that the boys didn’t struggle in the scrums. I don’t think WP are the benchmark tho. The effort against the Cheetahs and Lions carries more weight in my books. Lineouts are a worry, there is 1 easy target and then the other jumpers have to found with some smart co-ordination between thrower and catcher, with a bit of decoy work by others. The Bulls with 3 2m tall players will test us here. The absence of an enforcer type player in the pack is concerning as well, even tho the boys have held their own and when they click, seem to play into space rather than contact. At the back, I wonder if SR is trying to hard to produce his schoolboy trademark runs. Good to hear he is handling the high balls well His kicking game needs some work. His opposite number at the Bulls is one to watch as well – Jacques Rossouw.
@beet: lineout accuracy not the problem,only one throw not straight against the lions,but communication seems to be the down fall,again on saturday ,defensive lineout on sharks 5m line,no5 calls the jump,which he does all the time,hooker throws nobody even jumps, WP takes the throw at the back and walks in for a try,firstly ,galeforce winds call to the back of the lineout ??????,and when i say nobody jumps i mean nobody gets off the ground???? ,scrums were good considering they were playing in a mud bath,losts of knock ons from the sharks,backs were disappointing,Cope came on and made a big difference,looked classy with ball in hand,no15 took alot of up and unders cleanly at the back ,but ran all of them back did not pass and was closed down well behind the advantage line which in those conditions,kept the sharks under pressure and in their own half,WP no13 was very good ,ran holes throw our backline
Amazing result by Leopards, only just going down 13-8 and ending the game in the Bulls redzone. Good stuff.