| Date | Home Team | Away Team | Venue | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13-Jul | SWD Eagles | 00 | 90 | Blue Bulls | Outeniqua Park, George |
| 14-Jul | Free State Cheetahs | 31 | 32 | Leopards | Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein |
| 14-Jul | Golden Lions | 13 | 23 | Western Province | Coca-Cola Park Stadium, Johannesburg |
| 20-Jul | Blue Bulls | 39 | 25 | Golden Lions | Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria |
| 20-Jul | Sharks | 38 | 16 | Free State Cheetahs | Mr Price Kings Park, Durban |
| 21-Jul | Leopards | 32 | 00 | SWD Eagles | Profert Olën Park, Potchestroom |
| 27-Jul | SWD Eagles | Sharks | Outeniqua Park, George | ||
| 28-Jul | Golden Lions | Leopards | Coca-Cola Park Stadium, Johannesburg | ||
| 28-Jul | Western Province | Blue Bulls | Newlands Rugby Stadium, Cape Tow |
The seven team Absa under-19 competition is now in full swing. The Sharks got their campaign off to a winning start with an outstanding 38-16 win against the Free State. The Sharks dominated early exchanges and assisted by some Free State errors, the home team soon found themselves 12-0 to the good. SA Schools 2011 fullback Sean Robinson and scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer got the tries. Placekicking had been a big stumbling block for the Sharks during a warm-up game which they lost 13-12 to the Free State, so it was good to see designated kicker Ungerer striking the ball fairly well during this game.
The Free State then clawed their way back into contention. When they moved the ball down the right-hand side they were very dangerous. Their little number 14 Francois Pretorius exposed a few tackling technique issues out wide as first time tackles failed to halt the wing’s progress. The Cheetahs profited from Sharks mistakes and even a yellow card to lock Louis Hazelhurst. Their flyhalf Jannie Strumpher missed one but then slotted three penalties, two before half time and one after the break. Amongst the errors that the Sharks under-19’s were making was their over-eagerness to play the ball after the tackle had been made. They were pinged several times for no daylight being shown. At 12-9 after 40 minutes things were looking set for a tight finish. Both teams were playing some good rugby now and then but handling and passing were let them down at times as well.
From that 40th minute onwards, the Sharks clicked. More fluency and decisiveness was injected into what they did. They introduced speed especially from phase ball and cut out handling errors. They were also helped by some less than pretty defending by the Free Staters who committed too many to the rucks and failed to implement second line defensive patterns.
After some good carries by various players, flashy wing Alcino Izaacs was on hand to collect near a breakdown formed in the middle just outside the 22m. The little opening ahead was all he needed, making light work of getting over once he got by the fringe defence. The score moved to 19-9.
Sharks no.8 Jaco Pretorius, who was quite possibly the man of the match then dotted down. The relatively unknown recruit from Sentraal Hoerskool in Bloemfontein looks like a useful player. He is busy and aggressive. His try was again made possible by good phase play after the Free State had kicked the ball to Robinson at the back. The Sharks moved the ball around and through a few phases until they outnumbered the Free State on the left side where Pretorius was on the wing. His try made it 24-9 after 46 minutes.
The next Sharks try was made by Andrew van Tonder’s crucial line-break. The flanker then offloaded to captain Rob du Preez who cruised in. Like the try before it started with a Free State kick being turned into an attack. Centre Tyler Fisher was prominent in this move and Ungerer’s use of decisive cut out passes helped get some width and speed into the move. The Sharks’ ability to advance play upfield while retaining possession eventually thinned out the defenders, setting up van Tonder for his chance to breach the defensive line.
Former Affies boy Luan de Bruin was next to score a try. In a bit of a signature move the big prop used a strong leg drive to cross from close range for Free State. His power in contact is what got him home. Along with Rudolph Botha, de Bruin forms a very meaty Cheetahs front row. Sharks props Richard Palframan and Nick Roebeck did well to hold their own up front.
Sharks lock Myles Tucker almost scored a gem of a try in the left corner. He lost the ball over the line. Here Izaacs and Pretorius did some good work with the passes in the build-up. Tucker is a giant at 2.06 metres. It was encouraging to see him working hard to get hands on the ball and add value to the team’s cause.
Fisher concluded the try scoring with an effort from close range. His strength on his feet and his hand-off were again evident in this match. He had a good overall performance in a game that suited his style of play. At 1.94 metres, inside centre Gareth Meikle is one of the tallest players in the Sharks set up. He did not have any real opportunities to show off his abilities. There weren’t too many chances for try scorer Robinson either. Japanese wing Kotaro Matsushima had some nice runs and showed a bit of flair. He certainly has wheels. It was also noticeable that he has a massive punt on him.
It ended at 38-16, with Ungerer being responsible for eight points with the boot.
In the other big game of round 2 the Bulls hosted the Lions. Many believe that this is the best Bulls under-19 team ever assembled. Their 90-0 drubbing of South Western Districts in round 1 is an indication of how good and committed they are. The Lions are the defending champions, having beaten the Blue Bulls in last year’s final. One has to remember though that under-19 junior rugby is very unique in the sense that 99% of players are only eligible to play for one season before pushing on to the under-21 age group. In other words, looking back at the previous year’s results is meaningless in relation to the current year. Nevertheless winning the title does hold some weight in a future context and gives a good measure of the success of a union’s junior development programme.
The Bulls ran out eventual winners by 39-25 in the exciting match. The Lions will look back at two momentary lapses in concentration that cost them 14 points in the space of two minutes early in the game and maybe even the match in the end. They basically allowed flyhalf Faf Tredoux to run through them after they made a poor clearance kick and then from the next kickoff scrumhalf Kefentse Mahlo carried the ball back to the Lions try-line without anyone laying a finger on him. A few minutes later captain Dries Swanepoel, who has just returned from a long-term injury layoff, powered his way over for the first of his two tries. The 22-6 halftime misery of the Lions seemed to be compounding when the 2011 SA Schools centre touched down again to extend the lead to 29-6 in the 39th minute.
The Lions fought back bravely, scoring the next three tries and by the 57th minute it was game on again at 29-25 in favour of the Bulls. Lions’ try scorers were centre Harold Verster, wing PJ Walters and another SA Schools player, scrumhalf Percy Williams. The classy Bulls did however have the last say. Their replacement scrummy Jerome Bastick sealed the deal with his team’s fifth try four minutes from time. Bulls fullback Jacques Rossouw had a good day with the boot, contributing 14 points in total.
The Leopard recorded a 32-0 win against the South Western Districts Eagles at home. Like the Sharks and the Bulls, they earned a bonus point in the process and now find themselves in second place behind the Bulls at this early stage of the competition.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | BP | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bulls | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 129 | 25 | 104 | 19 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | Leopards | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 31 | 33 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| 3 | Sharks | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 16 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | Western Province | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Free State | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 47 | 70 | -23 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | Lions | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 38 | 62 | -24 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | SWD Eagles | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 122 | -122 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| BULLS | LIONS | |
|---|---|---|
| Justin Forwood (Waterkloof) | 1 | Pieter Bothma (Monnas) |
| Theuns Reynolds (Monnas) | 2 | Eugene le Maitre (Marais Viljoen) |
| Andrew Beerwinkel (Porterville) | 3 | Dirk Kotze (Monnas) |
| Irne Herbst (Waterkloof) | 4 | Jannie Stander (Monnas) |
| Dennis Visser (Affies) | 5 | Lourens Erasmus (Garsfontein) |
| Roelof Smit (Waterkloof) | 6 | De Wet Meyer (Waterkloof) |
| Jacques du Plessis (Ermelo) | 7 | Janneman Stander (Oakdale) |
| Nicolaas Immelman (Grey College) | 8 | Willie Newman (Monnas) |
| Kefentse Mahlo (Ben Vorster) | 9 | Wynand Venter (Jeugland) |
| Francois Tredoux (Waterkloof) | 10 | Ashton Davids (Schoonspruit ) |
| Ruwellyn Isbell (Grey College) | 11 | Shaun Conradie (Monnas) |
| Dries Swanepoel (Grey College) | 12 | Harold Vorster (Frans du Toit) |
| Jade Stighling (St Albans) | 13 | Jacques Nel (Brandwag) |
| Jason Kriel Kriel (Dirkie Uys) | 14 | PJ Walters (Upington) |
| Jacques Rossouw (Piketburg) | 15 | Hanco Deale (Affies) |
| Jacques Taylor (Glenwood) | 16 | Siphatho Qinisile (Selborne) |
| Jaco Victor (Marais Viljoen) | 17 | Adrian Oosthuizen (EG Jansen) |
| Ferdi Horn (Glenwood) | 18 | Fanie Esterhuizen (EG Jansen) |
| Clyde Davids (Paarl Gim) | 19 | Percy Williams (Oudtshoorn) |
| Jerome Bastick (Marais Viljoen) | 20 | Linden Rhode (Point) |
| Juan Smit (Ben Vorster) | 21 | Senzo Tshabalala (KES) |
| Lwandile Sompontsha (Wynberg) | 22 | Divan Swart (HTS Middelburg) |
| SHARKS | FREE STATE | |
| Nic Roebeck (Rondebosch) | 1 | Rudolf Botha (Grey College) |
| Morne du Plessis (Waterkloof) | 2 | Jacques du Toit (Grey College) |
| Richard Palframan (Rondebosch) | 3 | Luan de Bruin (Affies) |
| Louis Hazelhurst (George Campbell) | 4 | JJ Nell (Grey College) |
| Myles Tucker (Rondebosch) | 5 | Henfred Linde (Marlow) |
| Petrus Uys (Swellendam) | 6 | Theuns Truter (Jim Fouche) |
| Andrew van Tonder (EG Jansen) | 7 | Ricky van Straaten (Marlow) |
| Jean Pretorius (Sentraal) | 8 | Gerhard Olivier (Grey College) |
| Stefan Ungerer (Maritzburg College) | 9 | Nhlanhla Hlongwane (Louis Botha) |
| Robert du Preez (Kearsney) | 10 | Jannie Strumpher (Grey College) |
| Alcino Izaacs (Namib HS) | 11 | Seabelo Senatla (Harmony) |
| Gareth Meikle (Lomagundi, Zimbabwe) | 12 | Tertius Kruger (Outeniqua) |
| Tyler Fisher (Westville) | 13 | Jaco Fourie (Affies) |
| Kotaro Matsushima (Toin Gakven,Japan) | 14 | Francois Pretorius (Grey College) |
| Sean Robinson (Waterkloof) | 15 | Meyer van Tonder (Grey College) |
| Warrick Venter (Selborne) | 16 | Marco Klopper (Voortrekker (Beth)) |
| John-Hubert Meyer (Paul Roos) | 17 | Hennie Theron (Grey College) |
| David Fisher (Pretoria Boys High) | 18 | Lyvette Shikwambana (Ben Vorster) |
| Theo Kruger (THS Sasolburg) | 19 | Shaun Ndinisa (Ben Vorster) |
| Bokkie Carstens (Pau Roos) | 20 | Sheldon Erasmus (Voortrekker (Beth)) |
| Brendon Cope (DHS) | 21 | Rual Laubscher (Marais Viljoen) |
| Sphu Msutwana (Dale College) | 22 | Johannes Roos () |
| 23 | Ignis Nagel (Boishaai) |
@Archie: Yikes I had him from there originally http://schoolboyrugby.co.za/blog/?p=327 but trusted the official source. Have changed it.
Juan Smit of the Bulls was in Ben Vorster
@boxkick: We’ll have to wait for Muzi. He ‘s the Bulls junior rugby guru. Moolman and Taylor. Taylor looks to be on a rotation with the Monnas player.
@all – what is happening to the Glenwood old boys at 2 and 12 or 13…
I saw that Immelman no 8 from Grey the other day at a Monnas game…….he looks like a strong lad. I also believe Stony should be at 6.
@Muzi: By the look of things Stoney’s future is at 6.
Chris Massyn is operating at 65% he is not fully fit imho.
@Andre T: Irne Herbst again got Injured again
last week he might not be available against WP under 19’s this saturday.Monnas Phillip Du Preez the next in line to partner Dennis Visser.
Hope Stoney and Neethling are fit.
That Bulls loose trio is all power.
Oh you got if off the SA Rugby site,sorry
@Ludz: I emailed it to you just the other day
Where’d you manage to get the Lions teamlist
@beet: Thanks…..thought Irne Herbst out injured. Theuns Reynoulds…..a late developer……watch out for him.
@Andre T: Okay the teams are in. If you know where Roos schooled please let me know.
Beet
Where can I see the team sheets for these games?
This is a great site, well done.