On Friday the first two quarter finals were played, the first between Pampas XV and the Free State Cheetahs at Olën Park in Potchefstroom and the second between Griquas and the Pumas at GWK Park in Kimberley.  On Saturday the last two matches were between the Golden Lions and the Blue Bulls at Wits University and the last one between Western Province vs the Sharks at Newlands.

The details of the results are listed below.

The Semi Finals  are on 7 May 2011, they are as follows:

• Griquas vs Blue Bulls
• Pampas XV vs Sharks XV

Pampas XV 41-34  Free State Cheetahs

The Pampas XV needed extra time to beat the Free State Cheetahs 41-34 (fulltime 34-34; halftime 10-17) in a dramatic Vodacom Cup quarterfinal played at Olën Park in Potchefstroom on Friday night.

Scorers:

Pampas XV 41 – Tries: Julio Farias Cabello, Juan Imhoff (3), Miguel de Achaval, Agustin Gosio. Conversions: Nicolas Sanchez (3), Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias. Penalty: Sanchez.

Free State 34 – Tries: Pieter Labuschagne, Eddie Fredericks, Johan Goosen, Marcel van der Merwe. Conversions: Louis Strydom (4). Penalty: Strydom

Former Springbok Earl Rose scored a try deep in the second period of extra time as Griquas beat the Pumas 37-33 (fulltime 30-30; halftime 15-20) at GWK Park in Kimberley on Friday night to qualify for the semifinals of the Vodacom Cup.

Griquas 37 – 33 Pumas

It was the second quarterfinal in a row that went down to the wire in such dramatic fashion, after the Pampas XV earlier on Friday scored a try in the 18th minute of extra time to beat the Free State Cheetahs 41-34 in Potchefstroom.

As in Potch, in Kimberley it required a last-gasp try in regulation time and another 20 extra-time minutes for Griquas to make it through, after they had never looked like winning for the first 76 minutes.

The first half of regular time produced a keenly contested battle in which the visitors undoubtedly held the upper hand. The Pumas’ rush defence seemed to have caught Griquas off guard, while they were also highly successful in closing their opponents down behind the gainline.

Griquas simply didn’t seem sharp at all — too often, once-off runners got isolated and their passing was terrible at times.

Defensively the Pumas found holes too frequently, as when Ricardo Croy, the Pumas’ composed flyhalf, easily stepped past inside centre Matt Rosslee midway through the first half to score under the posts and convert to open up a 17-12 lead.

Earlier, scrumhalf Tian Meyer opened their account as early as the fifth minute when he went blindside from a driving mall without a hand being laid on him.

Griquas responded with two tries in quick succession, the first an individual piece of cleverness from scrumhalf Jandré Blom.

Regaining position from a Pumas handling error, Blom chipped ahead in open space and with the ball bouncing up fortuitously he only had to run it in.

Wilmaure Louw also dotted down for the men from Kimberley, but from there on the Pumas dominated matters.

With only five minutes of play remaining, Meyer intercepted and ran clear for what seemed to be the winning try, as Croy’s conversion made it 30-18.

But Griquas kept their best rugby for the last four minutes as first Jaco Nepgen scored, which Vogt converted. Then, from the receiving kick-off, Vogt broke the line and another four players handled before winger Richard Lawson finished off in the right-hand corner for a brilliant score.

Vogt however couldn’t convert and extra time was needed to separate the teams.

Croy gave his team the edge with his fourth penalty, but Rose had the final say to give his team a famous victory.

Scorers:

Griquas 37 – Tries: Jandré Blom, Wilmaure Louw, Jaco Nepgen, Richard Lawson, Earl Rose. Conversions: Rudi Vogt (3). Penalties: Vogt (2).

Pumas 33 – Tries: Tian Meyer (2), Ricardo Croy. Conversions: Ricardo Croy (3). Penalties: Ricardo Croy (4).

Golden Lions 26-28 Blue Bulls

The Vodacom Blue Bulls made their way to the Vodacom Cup semi-finals as two late tries by Sampie Mastriet and Marnitz Boshoff sealed a heart-stopping 28-26 (half-time 10-11) victory over the MTN Golden Lions in their quarterfinal at Wits University on Saturday.

It was an exceptional victory for the Bulls, considering they were playing with 14 men from the 51st minute, when centre Francois Venter made his exit due to a vicious spear tackle on George Earle, and were trailing 16-26 with just eight minutes remaining.

But wing Mastriet and flyhalf Boshoff, both of whom looked exciting with ball in hand throughout the match, both scored tries in the thrilling conclusion to ensure the defending champions don’t go out just yet.

The Lions made a fine start to the game when centre Alwyn Hollenbach sped over for the opening try, but flyhalf Elton Jantjies missed the conversion. Missed kicks would be a recurring, and extremely costly, theme for the Lions with Jantjies leaving 10 points on the table.

The Bulls took the lead in the 23rd minute when prop Morne Mellett bustled over for a try, which Boshoff, who had a fine afternoon with the boot, converted.

The rest of the first-half scoring would be kicks as Lions fullback Andre Pretorius kicked two penalties and Boshoff one to leave the home side one point ahead at the break.

The Bulls were quick to regain the lead after the interval, however, with Boshoff kicking a 41st-minute penalty.

Lions Kevin Buys was shown a yellow card in the 42nd minute for using the elbow as over-enthusiastically as a kid on prom night, but Pretorius regained the lead for the Lions with a penalty and Venter followed the replacement prop on to the sideline, but permanently, for trying to plant Earle in the turf.

The Lions suddenly burst into life in the final quarter, with tries by wing Dusty Noble and scrumhalf Michael Bondesio as they streaked 26-16 ahead.

But the Bulls’ Vodacom Cup adventure – they scraped into the quarterfinals after losing five games – did not end there. An exciting period of sustained pressure eventually saw Mastriet take the gap to score, with Boshoff converting to make the score 23-26.

The Bulls roared back on to attack from the kick-off, keeping the ball through phase after phase, before Boshoff eventually risked going it alone down the blindside and scored the match-winning try.

Lions replacement centre Hein Cronje tried a drop goal in injury time, but it was charged down to give the Bulls an extraordinary victory.

While Boshoff and Mastriet were outstanding for the Bulls, loose forward Jaco Kriel had an excellent game for the Lions.

Scorers

MTN Golden Lions– Tries: Alwyn Hollenbach, Dusty Noble, Michael Bondesio. Conversion: Elton Jantjies. Penalties: Andre Pretorius (3).

Vodacom Blue Bulls – Tries: Morne Mellett, Sampie Mastriet, Marnitz Boshoff. Conversions: Boshoff (2). Penalties: Boshoff (3).

Western Province 19–21 Sharks XV

The Sharks XV won through to the semifinals of the Vodacom Cup with a tense 21-19 (halftime 15-8) win over Western Province at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.

The semifinals will see the Blue Bulls play Griquas, and the Sharks XV play the Pampas XV. The venues and times are to be confirmed by SA Rugby.

In a scrappy match that never truly got going, it was the Sharks XV who opened the scoring in the 13th minute when right wing Mark Richards was freed down the right-hand touchline and succeeded in breaking through four would-be WP tacklers to dot down in the corner.

Province equalised four minutes later from a turnover on their 10-metre line that saw the ball spun quickly to left wing JJ Engelbrecht, whose long legs carried him past the Sharks’ cover defence for a try-scoring run down the grandstand touchline.

Sharks flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter broke the deadlock on the half hour when he slotted a penalty for the Sharks, cancelled out five minutes later by WP ‘s debutant flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis, a late call-up after Peter Grant failed a fitness test for the Stormers.

The Sharks XV gained some crucial breathing space just before the break when eighthman Marcell Coetzee was given an armchair ride down the right-hand touchline from a scrum before feeding unmarked scrumhalf Cobus Reinach on his outside.

Potgieter’s touchline conversion made it 15-8 and the flyhalf extended the lead to 10 points with a second penalty early in the second half.

Catrakilis also slotted a second penalty, with 21 minutes left, to cut the deficit to a converted try and then nailed a third to make it 18-14.

But Potgieter was equal to the task in this tit-for-tat kicking display, kicking his second penalty with 11 minutes left to restore the seven-point buffer.

With three minutes to go, WP put together a string of phases that saw right wing Danie Poolman dive over, but Catrakilis couldn’t convert from an acute angle to in all likelihood force the game into extra time.

Scorers:

Western Province 19– Tries: JJ Engebrecht, Danie Poolman. Penalties: Demetri Catrakilis (3).

Sharks XV 21– Tries: Mark Richards, Cobus Reinach. Conversion: Jacques-Louis Potgieter. Penalties: Potgieter (3).