NELSPRUIT, 13 December 2016 – Ekurhuleni took command of the A-Section in the South African Under-19 Inter-Provincial Championship as Boland continued its rampage in the B-Section with another blistering performance at White River Country Club on Tuesday.A-SECTION
After double victories in the first round, Central Gauteng and Gauteng North enjoyed a second round bye and subsequently lost their footing at the top of the log. Ekurhuleni – buoyed by victory over Western Province after losing their opening match against Gauteng North – made the most of their absence to leapfrog their neighbours on day two.
Ekurhuleni downed Southern Cape 7 – 5 and defeated Free State 9 – 3 to rocket to the top of the standings with six points.
The side drew 2-all against Southern Cape and led Free State 2.5 – 1.5 in the Foursomes.
Nash de Klerk, Marco Massiceti, Burt Gildenhuys and Jayden Schaper added four points to their tally and halves from Yurav Premlall and Vaughn van Deventer sealed their success over the defending champions.
The Free State juniors bowed under the pressure of De Klerk, Massiceti, Gildenhuys, Van Deventer, Schaper and Chase Paton in the singles.
Southern Cape edged out Free State 7.5 – 4.5 to move into second and KwaZulu-Natal got off the bottom rung of the log when the coastal side gave Western Province an 8.5 – 3.5 hiding.
B-SECTION
Boland went on a tear in the opening round and mowed down Northern Cape and North West and on Tuesday, Border and Limpopo joined the casualty list.
Determined to protect their lead in the battle for promotion, Boland demolished Limpopo 11 – 1 and mowed down Border 10.5 – 1.5 to collect another four points and cement their spot at the top of the log with eight points.
Boland threw down the gauntlet in the foursomes, taking a 3 – 1 lead against Border and leading Limpopo 3.5 – 0.5
Riaan Rooi, Tyron Davidowitz, Dandre Spies, Aidon Willemse, Willem Boshoff, Herman Loubser and Ethan Smith racked up double victories in the singles. Daniel Cronje collected a point in his game against James Vorster Jnr form Limpopo but had to settle for half a point against Border’s Daniel van Seumeren.
Second placed Mpumalanga only faced one team on day two.
The host union pummelled Northern Cape 11 – 1 and two more points kept the host union safely in second with six points.
Mpumalanga scored three points against Northern Cape in the Foursomes and DJ Hasselbring, Banele Mavuso, Jacques Brits, Ian Jacobs, Jacques du Preez, Cameron Borcher, Brandon Geere and Ruan Groenewald did the damage as the host union sped to a clean sweep in the singles.
Limpopo rallied to defeat Border 7.5 – 4.5 and the victory lifted the side to fifth in the standings, ahead of Border in sixth and Northern Cape on the bottom rung.
A-SECTION – Round Two Results
Southern Cape 5 vs Ekurhuleni 7
Ekurhuleni 9 vs Free State 3
Southern Cape 7.5 vs Free State 4.5
KwaZulu-Natal 8.5 vs Western Province 3.5
A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Ekurhuleni (4, 3, 0, 1, 6, 27.5)
2 Southern Cape (4, 2, 0, 2, 4, 24)
3 Central Gauteng (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 15)
4 Gauteng North (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 14)
5 KwaZulu-Natal (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 18)
6 Western Province (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 14)
7 Free State (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 7.5)
B-SECTION – Second Round Scores
Boland 10.5 vs Border 1.5
Border 4.5 vs Limpopo 7.5
Boland 11 vs Limpopo 1
Northern Cape 1 vs Mpumalanga 11
B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Boland (4, 4, 0, 0, 8, 41.5)
2 Mpumalanga (3, 3, 0, 0, 6, 30.5)
T3 North West (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 12.5)
T3 Eastern Province (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 12.5)
5 Limpopo (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 8.5)
6 Border (4, 0, 0, 4, 0, 10)
7 Northern Cape (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 4.5)
PHOTOS – Jayden Schaper from Ekurhuleni and Banela Mavuso from Mpumalanga; credit SAGA.