JOHANNESBURG, 14 April 2014 – Defending champions Gauteng North are on the back foot after a second round draw in the South African U-23 Inter-Provincial, while Central Gauteng strengthened their lead in the log at Country Club Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Central Gauteng were all-square heading into their Singles against KwaZulu-Natal after both teams had a win, a loss and two halves in the Foursomes.

Matthew Kiewitz and Fritz Orren both won 4 & 3 to put Central ahead and Jason Rossiter, Ludovic Bax and Rupert Kaminski claimed three more victories to boost their tally to seven points.

Liam McIlroy steadied the ship for KZN when he beat Kyle Barker 2-up and Gregory McKay added another point when he defeated Jason Viljoen 2 & 1.

However, Werner van Wyk gained a crucial half point for Central Gauteng against Ruben Coetzer to help the team edge out Ekurhuleni for the top spot in the grid.

Ekurhuleni whipped North West 10-2 to match the log leader with four points, but Central Gauteng edged ahead with 19 games points to Ekurhueleni’s 18.5.

Gauteng North, meanwhile, drew 6-all with Western Province.

The two teams started the Singles at 2-all, but Province took the early lead with victories from Hayden Garcia, Cole Cruickshank and Michael Sherrif.

However, Nomads SA Boys U-19 Match Play finalists Rosswell Sinclair and JP Cooper hit back to claim two points for the defending champions and Marco Loubser defeated Luca Filippi 2 & 1 to square the match.

The final two games both ended in halves, leaving the teams with six points each.

Gauteng North edged ahead of Province into third place in the standings with three points after a win and a draw.

Meanwhile Boland gave their B-Section promotion battle a healthy push with their second straight victory.

The side thumped Mpumalanga 9 – 3 to take their tally to four points, moving one point clear of Southern Cape in the log.

After a first draw, the Garden Route team came up trumps in their second match against Eastern Province to win 8.5 – 3.5.

And a 6-all draw against Limpopo took Free State to third place on the grid with two points and 12 games points in hand. They lead by half a games point from Mpumalanga.

A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Central Gauteng (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 19.0)
2 Ekurhuleni (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 18.5)
3 Gauteng North (2, 1, 1, 0, 3, 14.0)
4 Western Province (2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 9.5)
5 KwaZulu-Natal (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 8.5)
6 North West (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2.5)

B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Boland (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 15.5)
2 Southern Cape (2, 1, 1, 0, 3, 14.5)
3 Free State (2, 0, 2, 0, 2, 12.0)
4 Mpumalanga (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 11.5)
5 Limpopo (2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 9.5)
6 Eastern Province (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 9)

PHOTO – Albert Venter from Gauteng North; credit Catherine Kotze / SASPA