Sarel Cilliers surges to victory at Pionier Sevens, Marais Viljoen wins u15 title
Sarel Cilliers claimed the u17 title and Marais Viljoen captured the u15 honours when The High School Sevens Series, proudly sponsored by Toyota, visited Hoërskool Pionier in Vryheid over the weekend.
The event was played over two days and brought together teams from as far away as Zululand and, in the case of Marais Viljoen, from Gauteng.
In the u17 competition, the hosts, Pionier topped Pool A, while Vryheid Landbou put their experience in the Glenwood Sevens to full use, which helped them win Pool B.
Pool C was comfortably won by Sarel Cilliers, while Zayo Rhinos emerged as the winners of Pool D.
In the Cup semi-finals, Vryheid Landbou accounted for Pionier, recording a 26-14 victory, to move on to the title game. Meanwhile, Sarel Cilliers was stretched by Zayo Rhinos but came away with a hard-fought 24-17 win.
The final, unfortunately, was an anti-climax as Vryheid Landbou ran out of legs, with their exertions of the past two weeks catching up with them. It was a comfortable outing for Sarel Cilliers who cruised to the crown, winning 49-5.
The Shield went Estcourt‘s way after a 21-17 win over HS Vryheid 2, while Richards Bay held off their neighbours, Empangeni, to win the Bowl 17-12. Marais Viljoen picked up the Plate with a 31-12 defeat of Ferrum.
U15 Competition
In the u15 competition, Marais Viljoen cruised through their group assignments but found a tough opponent in John Ross College in the Cup quarterfinals. They advanced, nonetheless, with a 17-10 win.
Pionier sneaked by Empangeni by two points, Sarel Cilliers ousted Vryheid Landbou 26-17, and HS Vryheid convincingly dealt with Ferrum, winning 31-12.
They were stopped by Marais Viljoen in the semi-finals, however, with the school from Alberton booking their place in the final after a 15-10 win. Pionier squeezed past Sarel Cilliers in the other semi, edging it 14-12.
It was tight in the final, too, with Marais Viljoen lifting the title after a 24-19 victory.
Amajuba downed Gelofte 19-7 to hoist the Shield, Richards Bay ran out 21-0 winners over Estcourt in the Bowl final, and Vryheid Landbou bagged the Plate with a 33-12 win over John Ross College.
u17 Results
Pool A
Ladysmith 10-0 BYE
Pionier 27-10 Estcourt
Ladysmith 24-22 Estcourt
Pionier 10-0 BYE
Estcourt 10-0 BYE
Pionier 28-19 Ladysmith
Pool B
Marais Viljoen 45-0 Pionier Barbarians
Richards Bay 26-31 Vryheid Landbou
Marais Viljoen 18-29 Vryheid Landbou
Richards Bay 31-10 Pionier Barbarians
Marais Viljoen 48-12 Richards Bay
Vryheid Landbou 33-0 Pionier Barbarians
Pool C
Sarel Cilliers 36-17 HS Vryheid 2
Ferrum 10-0 BYE
Sarel Cilliers 10-0 BYE
Ferrum 36-12 HS Vryheid 2
Sarel Cilliers 42-12 Ferrum
HS Vryheid 2 10-0 Bye
Pool D
HS Vryheid 21-10 Amajuba
Zayo Rhinos 26-14 Empangeni
HS Vryheid 17-14 Empangeni
Zayo Rhinos 33-14 Amajuba
HS Vryheid 17-31 Zayo Rhinos
Empangeni 5-0 Amajuba
Solitaire playoff
Pionier Barbarians 5-31 Amajuba
Cup quarterfinals
Pionier 22-5 HS Vryheid
Vryheid Landbou 33-7 Ferrum
Sarel Cilliers 29-17 Marais Viljoen
Zayo Rhinos 43-14 Ladysmith
Bowl semi-finals
Richards Bay 19-0 HS Vryheid 2
Estcourt 17-22 Empangeni
Plate semi-finals
HS Vryheid 5-38 Ferrum
Marais Viljoen 19-5 Ladysmith
Cup semi-finals
Pionier 14-26 Vryheid Landbou
Sarel Cilliers 24-17 Zayo Rhinos
Shield final
Estcourt 21-17 HS Vryheid 2
Bowl final
Richards Bay 17-12 Empangeni
Plate final
Marais Viljoen 31-12 Ferrum
Cup final
Sarel Cilliers 49-5 Vryheid Landbou
u15 Results
Pool A
Ferrum 7-7 Gelofte
Marais Viljoen 36-0 Gelofte
Marais Viljoen 33-10 Ferrum
Pool B
Richards Bay 24-24 John Ross College
HS Vryheid 24-14 John Ross College
HS Vryheid 26- Richards Bay
Pool C
Pionier 54-5 Amajuba
Sarel Cilliers 52-10 Amajuba
Sarel Cilliers 19-26 Pionier
Pool D
Empangeni 10-0 Estcourt
Vryheid Landbou 36-7 Estcourt
Vryheid Landbou 24-19
Cup quarterfinals
Marais Viljoen 17-10 John Ross College
HS Vryheid 31-12 Ferrum
Pionier 17-15 Empangeni
Vryheid Landbou 17-26 Sarel Cilliers
Bowl semi-finals
Gelofte 7-26 Richards Bay
Amajuba 12-24 Estcourt
Plate semi-finals
John Ross College 40-7
Empangeni 5-17 Vryheid Landbou
Cup semi-finals
Marais Viljoen 15-10 HS Vryheid
Pionier 14-12 Sarel Cilliers
Shield final
Gelofte 7-19 Amajuba
Bowl final
Richards Bay 21-0 Estcourt
Plate final
Vryheid Landbou 33-12 John Ross College
Cup final
Marais Viljoen 24-19 Pionier
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