KwaZulu-Natal Schools went down to Eastern Province in a nail-biter at Nelson Mandela Stadium. After leading 12-6 at the break thanks to four penalties from the boot of flyhalf Rob Anderson versus two by his opposite number Ernst Stapelberg, Josh Moon extended that lead with the first of his two tries. EP struck back with a goaled try of their own scored by Sharks Academy 2013 prop Bart le Roux to reduce the lead to 17-13 in favour of the visitors. EP then went ahead 20-13 when SA Schools squad member Sergeal Peterson crossed for a converted try. Moon’s second try handed the see saw lead back to the Natalians and when Anderson converted it was stretched to 24-20. However EP had the last say when flank Ray Williams crossed for chalk. 27-24 is how it ended.
EP completed the week undefeated. For KZN another tough campaign ended with just one out of three wins.
Bulls are unofficial champions
As predicted the Blue Bulls dominated the Golden Lions in the Craven Week final winning 47-0. The Lions offered a bit of resistance up front. They had quite a bit of possession but were very restricted in terms of skills and ideas. The wet conditions did not make for a pretty game with all sorts of basic handling errors but the Bulls still managed to show their class at times, pulling off some outstanding moves.
Final Day’s Results
Griquas vs Border Country Districts – cancelled (waterlogged field)
Eastern Province Country Districts vs Leopards – cancelled (waterlogged field)
South Western Districts 20 Boland 10
Griffons 34 Griquas Country Districts 5
Namibia 28 Zimbabwe 7
Western Province 29 Pumas 14
Limpopo 20 Border 7
Free State 30 Valke 5
Eastern Province 27 KwaZulu Natal 24
Blue Bulls 47 Golden Lions 0
@greenhopper – I hear you…
@boxkick:hey , how did GW do so badly this year , and how did Kearsney lose a game or two that they shouldn’t have? Who have been the coaches for this side the last few years?? You can’t play teams at their own strengths you need to play your own brand of rugby. No use trying to play the All Black with the same style of Rugby they play , they will beat you, and this is where we go wrong ,
big question you need to ask yourself, how does a team (MHS) with no known quantity at the beginning of the season perform so well. The Coaches, just school teachers. but they come close to beating GW a week after their 1st team trials and not having the same preseason build up as GW , to be brutally honest GW were extremely lucky to have won this game, The same school beats Kearsney , both these coaches are selectors as well as the Coaches of the CW side. MHS then also beat Hilton , and we all know who coaches there.
Now this is a side with no glory boys , but a TEAM, and a coach who played to their strengths , you ask where we went wrong ,?? Same place GW did this year and Kearsney , COACHES
@greenhopper – possibly, but how do we then go and loose the last game?
@boxkick: still having played so well in the 1st half, we could have looked at playing players to enable us to field a stronger team
@all – Craven Week rules state that by the end of game 2, everyone in the squad must have had a FULL game…injuries aside, and if you have a player of colour injured you can only replace him with another of colour….
@All Black: possibly , we spoke about it last week, afte rthe first half, of teh FS game, we should have made chnages and started differently in the second game
To be honest, I think the coaching staff got it all wrong with their selections for each game. If you have to play everybody then spread it out. The team for the Lions was the weakest. Easy to talk after the fact though.
Even the weak free state won 2/3 !
@beet: Yep Beet, so do I!..The best two teams actually met in the first round on Tuesday!…These game selections are baffling to say the least…I would have had WP , KZN and EP in one group with Lions, Bulls and OFS in another with SWD and Pumas in either group. They are tradionally the stronger teams at CW. That way you can actually set up a Coastal/Inland..North/South type of final.
@Grasshopper: I had a feeling you would take pleasure in that Bulls result.
Bit disappointing 1st the loss and 2ndly not being shown on TV I think Kzn were a better team than to lose 2 matches – Well done anyway guys
i still kinda feel that kzn wouldve been a better challenge to Bulls even after what they did to the Lions and thats because of the fact that we have a better backline which is what killed Lions today, their big boys were ineffective!
Glad the Bulls smashed the Lions! Hard luck to the KZN boys, just shows how close the coastal neighbours are in strength.