Eastern Province booked their spot in the prestigious final fixture of the Coca-Cola Craven Week by beating KwaZulu-Natal by a single point in the last game of the fourth day of the week at Paarl Roos Gimnasium in Stellenbosh yesterday.
It was 23-22 in the end, with 14-man KZN coming agonisingly close to pulling off a major surprise in what was a cracker of a game.
Sharks eighthman Marco Palvie scored a last minute try, his second of the game, to make it a one point game after EP’s impressive Curwin Bosch had put his side eight points clear via two penalties late in the second half.
EP struggled initially against a gallant KwaZulu-Natal side, and only led 7-3 at half-time, but soon after the break, the young Sharks lost a player to a red card following a tip tackle, which meant they were chasing the game from then on.
They never lay down, however, and closed the gap to 17-8 via Palvie’s first try, and soon after that to 17-15 after Bader Pretorius went over under the posts for a try that he converted himself.
Curwin Bosch hit back with two penalties to make it 23-15 which proved to be enough in the end, if only just.
Earlier Kwezi Mafu and Heino Bezhuidenhout had scored tries for EP, both converted by Bosch, who also dropped a goal.
EP’s opponents in the main game on Saturday will in all probability be Western Province, who beat the Blue Bulls and the Griffons in their first two games, and who have been the most impressive side on view.
The Golden Lions’ disappointing week continued. They lost their second game in a row, going down 28-19 to the SWD Young Eagles yesterday.
It’s been their worst performance at Craven Week for a number of years and they can look forward to one of the early match slots when the programme for the final day is announced.
They started the game against SWD badly and found themselves 14-0 down at the break.
It was a different story after the break. Their fullback, Ivan Smit, got an early try for them, and Willem Massyn went over for a second – converted by Smit – to close the gap to 14-12, and the Lions were right back in the game.
They then suffered the double blow with two interception tries to see SWD surge ahead to a 28-12 lead. A late try by Smit, which he converted himself, closed the gap, but the Lions had left themselves too much to do. - The Star