Western Province and Free State off to good starts at Grant Khomo Week
Free State had to sweat to earn their 29-20 victory after an excellent start by Border on day one of the Grant Khomo Week at Boland Lanbou and Western Province showed how dangerous they are this year by beating a promising Boland team comprehensively, 41-19.
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The other teams would do well to take note of how Border managed to pin the Bloemfontein-based side in their own half during the first 20 minutes.
The Free State team is one of the biggest threats at this year’s event, and they showed why, maintaining composure and sticking to their systems, managing to fight back from a 13-0 deficit to end up winning 29-20.
The Border boys simply had more urgency from the first kickoff and were rewarded with two early tries by the Selbornian lock, Daniel Carr and their vice-captain and centre from Queens College, Sibabalwe Magwebu.
AJ Meyer (lock) launched the Free State’s counteroffensive just before halftime when he scored a try to take them into the break trailing by 13-7
The De Wee brothers from Fichardtpark, Brendon (scrumhalf) and Breyton (flyhalf) were prominent for the Free State, but it was the big centre from Grey College, Ethan Adams, who looked most dangerous with ball in hand.
Border did well to contain Adams during the first half, but the industrious centre showed why there is so much excitement around him, finding a way to get in on the action and causing endless problems for the Border defence.
Adams scored a brilliant try five minutes into the second half to give Free State the lead for the first time in the game.
His fullback, Tristan Maree, also seemed to find his rhythm in the second half and did well to manage the game from the back.
Having recovered from the shock of the first half, and with Border beginning to lose some of their intensity, Free State took control of the game, and two more tries by Brendon de Wee and the big eighth man, AJ Booysen, saw them pull away from their opponents for the first time in the game.
Border had the last say though, when Magwebu rounded off an exceptional team try in the final moments to bring Border back to a more respectable 9-point deficit, which is a better reflection of their efforts on the day.
Free State played against the Sharks in the main match of the 2022 edition of the famous u16 tournament, winning 39-18, but after a last-second 31-27 Sharks loss to the Bulls earlier in the day, it seems unlikely that this year will be a repeat of that final.
In the final match of the day, after the opening ceremony, Western Province took on the neighbouring Boland, beating them 41-12.
The majority of the Western Province team consists of players from schools in the Boland region, so it is always interesting when these two teams face each other as the players are all sure to be well acquainted, having competed against each other for their various schools throughout the age grades.
They were scheduled to play in a warmup match, before the Grant Khomo week, but that was cancelled on account of the heavy weather that the Western Cape has experienced in the lead-up to the event.
Six of the starting 15 in the WP squad had the added advantage of playing on their home field as the event was moved to Boland Landbou from Paul Roos in Stellenbosch because of the damage done by the aforementioned weather.
Western Province outmuscled Boland in the first half and looked set to run away with the game.
They were clinical in their execution, scoring 29 unanswered points in the first 30 minutes.
Their dominance was exemplified by the big loose forward from Paarl Gimnasium, Quintin Potgieter‘s try. He gathered the ball near his own 22m line, broke through the defenders in front of him and left the Boland defence in his dust as he sprinted 70 meters to score.
The second half started in much the same way when the Paarl Boy’s High loosehead prop, Jordan Jooste, powered over the line to give WP a 36-0 lead.
Boland found their feet in the second half and used their kicking game to chase the big WP forward pack around.
After a good 20 minutes of dominance in WP’s half, Boland finally broke through, showing just how dangerous they can be on the front foot.
Flyhalf, Junade Pasensie from Hoërskool Hermanus showed great awareness to spot space on the far side and sent a long skip pass to the waiting prop from Charlie Hofmeyr, Joshua Swarts, who flicked it on expertly to his flanker from Worcester Gimnasium, Jayde-Will de Klerk who slid over in the corner like a winger.
With their tales up, Boland almost scored again immediately from the kickoff when Jeraldo Davids, the lively backline player from Langeberg almost returned the ball the length of the field, unfortunately just stepping out and being called back after he had already beaten everyone.
Western Province did well to regain control with their flyhalf, Leighton Brinkhuis, from Parel Vallei, relieving the pressure on his team and it wasn’t long before Joshua Neill (eighth man) from Rondebosch cancelled out Boland’s score with a try of his own.
Despite a well-deserved consolation try in the last play of the game for Boland by the fullback from Bredasdorp, Junaide Stuart, WP proved themselves to be one of the favourites at this year’s event with arguably the strongest performance of the day.
The action continues tomorrow when all the teams play in their second match.
Western Province will face the Blue Bulls in the final game of the day and the Lions take on the Free State in the penultimate game.
Scorers:
Western Province 41 (29) – Tries: Jayden Joubert, Albert Lourens, Jadon Ocks, Jayden Brits, Jordan Jooste, Quintin Potgieter, Joshua Neill. Conversions: Leighton Brinkhuis (3). Boland 12 (0) – Tries: Jayde-Will de Klerk, Junaide Stuart. Conversion: Giano da Kosta.
Free State 29 (7) – Tries: AJ Meyer, Ethan Adams, Brendon de Wee, AJ Booysen. Conversions: Tristan Maree (3). Penalty: Maree. Border 20 (13) – Tries: Sibabalwe Magwebu (2), Daniel Carr. Conversion: Bunquina Nuku. Penalty: Nuku.
Leopards 15 (10) – Tries: Tyran Masango, Waide Davey, KG Legodi. Limpopo Blue Bulls 12 (7) – Tries: Kgashane Malesa, Johannes Bezuidenhout. Conversion: Anzio Swartbooi.
SWD 36 (12) – Tries: Jemiqo Gallant, Johannes Snyman, Sinesihle Mdlankomo, Kai Pratt, Lohan Gerber, Lee-Winn Pretorius. Conversions: Warren Labuschagne (3). Griffons 12 (12) – Tries: AJ Myburgh, Gehan Hendricks. Conversion: JM Rensburg.
Fixtures | Day 2
A field: 08:30 – Boland vs Leopards; 09:50 – Border vs Eastern Province; 11:10 – Western Province XV vs Pumas; 12:30 – SWD vs Sharks; 13:50 – Lions vs Free State; 15:30 – Western Province vs Blue Bulls.
B field: 08:30 – Free State XV vs Zimbabwe; 09:50 – Border CD vs Namibia; 11:10 – Griffons vs Limpopo Blue Bulls; 12:30 – Falcons vs Griquas.
