While the four teams who will contest the Vodacom Cup quarter-finals from the South Section have been decided, the race to get into the playoffs in the North Section is not over yet after the penultimate round of pool action.
And to add some spice, in the final round (in two weeks’ time) four of the top five teams in the North Section take on each other in two highly anticipated clashes. The defending champion Golden Lions (currently fourth on the log) host 2013’s runners-up the Steval Pumas (first), while GWK Griquas (second) have to travel to North West province to take on the Leopards XV (fifth).
The Vodacom Blue Bulls (third) host their neighbours to the north, the Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls, in Pretoria and a likely win should cement their place in the quarter-finals.
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Of the top five, only the Leopards XV lost in round six when they went down to the Steval Pumas in Middelburg on Saturday afternoon (44-31), where big Rudi Matthee scored two of the winning team’s tries.
The Golden Lions carded the first century of points for 2014 when they trounced the Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls by 110-0 in Polokwane on Saturday, and on Friday afternoon GWK Griquas and the Vodacom Blue Bulls were too strong for the Valke (64-34) and Down Touch Griffons (49-10) respectively in two high scoring matches.
Loose forward Carel Greeff scored three tries for the team from the Northern Cape in Kempton Park while four of the Vodacom Blue Bulls’ six tries were scored by prop Hencus van Dyk and fullback Clayton Blommetjies, who both crossed the Griffons’ tryline twice in Welkom.
The top four in the South Section will be the Cell C Sharks XV, DHL Western Province, Toyota Free State XV and SWD Eagles. However, their final positions on the log will only be confirmed after next weekend’s last round of pool matches.
On a very hot Saturday afternoon at City Park in Cape Town, the Cell C Sharks XV and DHL Western Province cemented their positions at the top of the South Section log with good victories.
First, the visiting KwaZulu-Natalians scored four tries on their way to a 40-3 win over the Tusker Simba XV from Kenya, after which DHL Western Province ground out a great 28-15 win over the Toyota Free State XV.
Despite beating the Regent Boland Cavaliers by 28-21 in Port Elizabeth on Friday evening, the EP Kings will not qualify for the quarter-finals this year as they were basically knocked out by neighbouring SWD Eagles.
The Eagles’ bonus-point 40-26 win over the Border Bulldogs in East London was enough to ensure they finish in the top four of the South Section. Veteran speedster Alshaun Bock scored four tries for the visitors from George, who took advantage of the Bulldogs’ poor defence and handling errors.
All the Scorers:
Border Bulldogs (14) 26 / 40 (26) SWD Eagles:
Border Bulldogs – Tries: Siphosenkosi Nofemele, Makazole Mapimpi, Thembani Mkokeli, Michael Makase. Conversions: Mario Noordman, Bangihlombe Kobese (2).
South Western Districts Eagles – Tries: Lyndon Hartnick, Alshaun Bock (4), Alwyn Bester. Conversions: Karlo Aspeling (5).
Down Touch Griffons (10) 10 / 49 (25) Vodacom Blue Bulls:
Down Touch Griffons – Try: Vuyo Mboto. Conversion: Franna du Toit. Penalty: Du Toit.
Vodacom Blue Bulls – Tries: Hencus van Wyk (2), Clayton Blommetjies (2), Sampie Mastriet, Burger Odendaal, Ryan Nell. Conversions: Tian Schoeman (3), Joshua Stander. Penalties: Schoeman (2).
GWK Griquas (38) 63 / 24 (10) Valke:
GWK Griquas – Tries: Carel Greeff (3), Tian Meyer, Rocco Jansen, Jonathan Adendorf, Ligtoring Landman, Dustin Jinka, Ederies Arendse (2). Conversions: Francois Brummer, Gouws Prinsoo (3), Jacquin Jansen (3).
Valke – Tries: Sandile Ngcobo (2), Peet Vorster, Shane Kirkwood, Anrich Richter. Conversions: Wayne Gardner, Angus Cleophas (2). Penalty: Cleophas.
EP Kings (10) 28 / 21 (8) Regent Boland Cavaliers:
EP Kings – Tries: Cameron Lindsay, Siphe Punguzwa; Penalty try. Conversions: Ntabeni Dukisa (2). Penalties: Dukisa (3).
Regent Boland Cavaliers – Tries: JC Astle, Harlon Klaasen. Conversion: Christian Rust. Penalties: Rust (3).
Tusker Simba XV (0) 3 / 40 (12) Cell C Sharks XV:
Tusker Simba XV – Penalty: Kenny Andola.
Cell C Sharks XV – Tries: Neil Maritz, Thomas du Toit, Johan Meyer, Andre Esterhuizen. Conversions: Tim Swiel (3), Esterhuizen. Penalties: Swiel (4).
Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls (0) 0 / 110 (68) Golden Lions:
Golden Lions – Tries: Stephan de Witt (2), Selom Gavor, Cyle Brink (2), Stokkies Hanekom, Nico du Plessis (2), Ruaan Lerm, Ruhan Nel (2), Lourens Erasmus, Sipha Qinisile, Chrysander Botha (2), Caswell Khoza. Conversions: Willie du Plessis (15).
Steval Pumas (24) 44 / 31 (14) Leopards XV:
Steval Pumas – Tries: Jacques Momberg, Ruwellyn Isbell, Uzair Cassiem, Rudi Mathee (2). Conversions: JC Roos (5). Penalties: Roos (2), Sinovuyo Nyoka.
Leopards XV – Tries: George Tossel (2), SW Oosthuizen, Jacques Vermaak. Conversions: Gerhard Nortier (4). Penalty: Nortier.
DHL Western Province (11) 28 / 15 (10) Toyota Free State XV:
DHL Western Province – Tries: Huw Jones, Robert du Preez, Devon Williams. Conversions: Kurt Coleman (2). Penalties: Coleman (3).
Toyota Free State XV – Tries: Renier Botha, Kevin Stevens. Conversion: Riaan Smit. Penalty: Smit.