ABSA u19 rugby : Week 4 ahead

The Sharks and Western Province are the only two unbeaten team left after three weeks of the under-19 rugby competition. The Sharks recorded a convincing 46-3 victory against the struggling SWD team in George. The visitors seven tries were scored by Stefan Ungerer, Andrew van Tonder, Jean Pretorius, Jean-Meyer Hubert, Garath Meikle, Robert du Preez and Tyler Fisher. With their win the Sharks still have a full house of points and climbed to second on the log. Now that the two seemingly easier games are out of the way, they will have to muscle up to face the tougher challengers in the remaining of the first round. First up in this regard is the Golden Lions. The sad news for the Sharks is that strong outside centre Fisher, who was at school with Olympic swimming gold medalist Chad le Clos, has been ruled out and so has his obvious replacement, the talented Michael Berhardt from Oakdale. This presents an opportunity for Matt Phillips, a Maritzburg College Old Boy who has impressed in club rugby. Phillips starts at 12, while giant centre Meikle shifts out one to 13.

The Lions are a team that only got their first taste of victory last Saturday compliments of a somewhat surprising final score of 43-15 against the Leopards.The Lions deserve credit for capitalising on Leopards mistakes, earning a value bonus point in the process but for observers at the game as a contest was a lot closer than the final score suggests. For the Lions flankers Kwagga Smit and De Wet Meyer were on top of their games with hooker Eugene le Maitre and scrummy Percy Williams catching the eye as well.  The Lions are likely to bring on a strong physical presence at collisions with the Sharks and they also have a couple of big backs in the form of centre Harold Vorster and PJ Walters. At the same time there appears to be some variation and a touch of creativity amongst the backs this season that was sometimes missed in previous Lions teams.  

In the big game of last weekend, WP trailed the Bulls by 16-6 with just ten minutes left on the clock but was rewarded for sustained pressure with two superb late tries to complete a come from behind 20-16 win.  It’s not a shock result by any means. The game was at Newlands and WP do have a good junior programme in place. It’s really more a case of the high expectations of the talented Bulls team not being fulfilled at this stage. Nevertheless it’s a long season, with plenty of rugby to come  and will undoubtedly include a test of depth at some point, so although a knock to the Bulls pride, given the number of high profile players they have on board, it’s not a train smash result. In terms of points scored, the J.G. centre combination did the trick for Province. Justin Geduld and Janco Gunter, a former Blue Bulls Craven Week player scored the vital tries. Scottish under-20 flyhalf Tomasco Allan, a relative of John Allan, succeeded with both conversion and two earlier penalties. The Bulls had Jacques Rossouw and Faf Tredoux to thank for points with the boot. Their only try was a well worked effort scored by centre Dries Swanepoel in the 53^rd minute. The Bulls attacking efforts were derailed by the sin-binning of Neethling Fouche and Clyde Davids in quick succession, meaning they played part of the match with just 13 players on the field. The Bulls take this weekend off while Province heads to the Leopards.

The Leopards believe they have a chance to upset WP. Province is the kind of team that can hurt opponents from any position on the field. They have mobile pack and are capable of playing at a high tempo. Their backs are resourceful. However they aren’t necessarily a side that can dominate opponents up front and this leaves the door open to a team that doesn’t have an assertive pack of their own. The Leopards are such a team this year. There strength lies in the quality of their backs. Players like Syvlain Muhuza, Luther Obi, Marnus Tack and Ryno Smith are earning some good reviews so far this season.  Part of the North West Province team’s problem against the Lions was a lack of patience which resulted in  50-50 passes, errors, turnovers, tries against them. The Leopards will look to improve in ball protection this weekend. They go in as underdogs but at home they are bound to push WP very hard.

Following their defeat at the hands of the Sharks a fortnight ago, Free State prioritised defence in training. Silly mistakes on D in Durban cost them dearly. On attack, they need more penetration. Periods of good continuity had little effect on the scoreboard last time out. A boost is the return of Grey Bloem lock Tienie Burger but this is countered with the loss of former Affies centre Jaco Fourie to injury.

Spare a thought for SWD who are finding the going very very very tough, having already conceded 26 tries in just three games. Usually the seventh team in the under-19 competition finds it hard to compete due to the lack of finances needed to recruit good players. What a pity SARU cannot address this matter. It would not hurt to come up with ideas on how to strengthen a team like SWD in order to add value to the competition as a whole. The Eagles travel to Bloemfontein to face the a fired up Cheetahs outfit and can expect a backlash of note.