WORCESTER, 15 December 2015 – Western Province forced their title defence back on track in round two of the South African U-19 Inter-Provincial and Gauteng North bounced back with a fine showing on a day when a strong easterly wind severely tested the field at Worcester Golf Club.Having won the Foursomes 2.5 – 1.5, Estiaan Conradie handed Burt Gildenhuys a 7 & 6 hiding to give Gauteng North a solid start the Singles, but Brandon Gildenhuys, Jason Thalrose and Tristen Strydom mounted a strong assault to put Ekurhuleni ahead.
However, Keegan de Lange, Cliffie Thompson, Keegan McLachlan and Ross Sinclair delivered the winning blows for Gauteng North.
The 7.5 – 4.5 took Gauteng North’s tally to four points, but with 19.5 games points, they edged out Southern Cape, who enjoyed a second round bye.
In the remaining A-Section matches, Province took advantage of their skills in the wind take the top spot in the A-Section log on seven points after thumping Boland and KwaZulu-Natal 8 – 4 and KwaZulu-Natal downed Boland.
The Cape side scored a narrow one point win against Central Gauteng and drew against Gauteng North on Monday and it looked like it might be another tough day at the office after a struggling start in the Foursomes.
They trailed KwaZulu-Natal 1.5 – 2.5 and tied Boland 2-all but, as the wind picked up speed and lashed around the unprotected front nine, Western Province turned up the head on the opposition.
KwaZulu-Natal carried a 3 – 1 lead into the Singles, where Ruben Coetzer, Liam McIlroy, Jason Broomhead and Gregory McKay took care of business to secure an 8 – 4 victory.
A-SECTION ROUND TWO RESULTS
Western Province 8 Boland 4
Western Province 8 KwaZulu-Natal 4
KwaZulu-Natal 8 – Boland 4
Gauteng North 7.5 – Ekurhuleni 4.5
A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Western Province (4, 3, 1, 0, 7, 28.5)
2 Gauteng North (3, 1, 2, 0, 4, 19.5)
3 Southern Cape (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 16.5)
4 KwaZulu-Natal (4, 1, 0, 3, 2, 21)
5 Ekurhuleni (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 15)
6 Central Gauteng (2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 11.5)
7 Boland (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 8)
PHOTO – Gauteng North U-19 team; credit GNGU