Golden Lions on top against Blue Bulls on Day 1 of Academy Week
The Lions put together a clinical performance to overcome the Blue Bulls by 44-22 in the Jukskei derby of the Academy week.
Forwards coach, Ian Joubert, will be happy with the performance brought to the table by the big men upfront.
The onslaught by the forwards was led by eighthman, Henrico Germishuizen, who impressed with his powerful ball carries. Germishuizen also managed to cross the white wash twice in his teams’ important victory.
With the platform well set upfront it allowed the backline of the Lions to showcase their talent lurking in the backline. Inside centre, Exauce Kevani, had his name on everyone’s lips as he too manged to break through the defences to cross the whitewash. Siphwe Moyo put on a master class from the kicking tee and casually slotted a 60-meter penalty from within his own half and impressed with his tactical kicking ability.
For the men in blue it was their hooker who tried valiantly with a solid performance scoring two of the Bulls’ tries. Scrumhalf, Zian Cilliers, also put in the hard yards and was impressive with his sniping runs from the base of the ruck.
The Sharks opened their account by beating Boland 36-29 in a scintillating curtain raiser on the Collard Field.
Boland were out of the blocks quickly, but the Sharks hit their straps soon after with fullback, Swelihle Mbatha, cutting through the defences to score the opener for his side.
Luke Davidson also rounded of some slick handling to dot down under the posts. The attention, though, was on the man in the number 22 jumper, Akuhluwa Boqwana. Boqwana set the standard with a man of the match performance, scoring two tries and contributing 13 points from the kicking tee.
Although, one must wonder what was said at half-time in the Boland changing room as they came out in full swing in the second half. The men from Boland ran rampant and managed to shrink a lead of 21 points and eventually take the lead in a matter of minutes. Replacement hooker led the fight back with two tries from the back of an impressive Boland driving-maul.
But it wasn’t enough as the men from Natal bounced back quickly securing a victory in a thriller of a match.
The Limpopo Blue Bulls impressed and might have shocked a few with their over the Leopards. The men from up North bagged their first victory of the week by six points (31-25).
Fullback, Dian van Tonder, stood out by contributing 23 of his teams’ 36 points, 10 of which came from two wonderful tries.
For the Leopards it was their lock pairing Pedrie Human and Erich Potgieter were the shining lights. The pair put in a big shift on defence and were ruthless on attack. Human also managed to cross the tryline twice for his team.
The Sharks XV proved to be too good for Border as they emerged victorious with a final score of 39-15. Zankosi Mthiyane (reserwe wing) and hooker, Luthando Makula, were in the thick of things as they scored two tries each. While Adriano Jacobs showed his raw pace on left wing to add five points of his own for the team from Natal.
Border struggled to find rhythm upfront, but managed to get the ball out wide to allow their wingers Thomas Braun and Anthenkosi Msileni to land counter punches by crossing the whitewash.
Scorers:
Golden Lions 44 (25) – Tries: Exauce Kevani Tshalmalala (2), Henrico Germishuizen (2), Juandre Schoeman, Bryce Samuel. Conversions: Sipiwhe Moyo (4). Penalties: Sipiwhe Moyo (2). Blue Bulls 22 (10) – Tries: Ethan van Dyk (2), Zian Cilliers. Conversions: Bradley Jansen, Ruben Pienaar. Penalty: Bradley Jansen.
Sharks 36 (21) – Tries: Akahluwa Boqwana (2), Luke Davidson, Swelihle Mbatha, Kwenzokuhle Dlamini, Jeshua Ferreira. Converstions: Boqwana (5). Penalty: Boqwana. Boland 29 (0) – Tries: Charlton Manuel (2), Bronwin Williams, Lu-Handre Arendse, Kerwin Davids. Conversions: Williams (2).
Limpopo Blue Bulls 31 (17) – Tries: Dian van Tonder (2), Jadrin Blerk, Chadwin Storm. Coversions: Van Tonder (3). Penalty: van Tonder. Leopards 25 (15) – Tries: Pedrie Human (2), Untandile Maluleke. Conversions: Rickardt van Heerden (2). Penalties: van Heerden (2).
Sharks XV 39 (22) – Tries: Zenkosi Mthiyane (2), Luthando Makula (2), Adriano Jacobs, Murry Baker. Conversions: Unathi Mlotshwa (2). Border 15 (5) – Thomas Braun, Anthenkosi Msileni, Jade Zindlu. Penalty: Lindoluhle Ndela
