Stellenbosch – The 52nd Coca-Cola Craven Week drew to a close at Paul Roos Gimnasium in Stellenbosch yesterday with a massive 95-0 win for the hosts, Western Province, over Eastern Province in the final game, leaving no doubt about where the power in schools rugby in South Africa lies.
The week was, in fact, staged at the epicentre of the schools game in the country – 15 of the players in the Western Province side attend school within a 40km radius of Stellenbosch.
Seven members of the team are from Paarl Boys’ High, four from Paarl Gimnasium, two from Paul Roos Gimnasium and one from Boland Landbou.
That, to an extent, may explain the ease with which WP disposed of an EP side that had been very impressive in their earlier games.
The winter rains hit Stellenbosch on Thursday, turning the field into a quagmire and the local boys looked far more at home in the conditions.
The performance of EP’s Curwin Bosch, everyone’s player of the tournament coming into the game, epitomises their battle. He was too slight to be dominant in the heavy conditions, and was moved to fullback during the game, where he hardly made an impression.
WP scored six tries in the first half to lead 43-0 at the break, and a further eight in the second, to record the biggest victory in a Craven Week main game, surpassing Free State’s 52-3 win over Western Province in 2007, ironically on the same field where yesterday’s game was played.
The Golden Lions ended what had been a rather miserable week for them on high note with a good 47-29 win over the Northern Free State Griffons in their final outing.
Yesterday they played with more freedom and were prepared to run the ball out of defensive positions when the opportunities arose.
It was a high risk-high reward strategy, and it allowed the Griffons to get back into the game with two second-half tries, closing the gap to 33-24 at one stage, but two late tries sealed it for the Lions.
Lions’ fullback Ivan Smit was the star of the game – he scored two tries – and was generally their best player throughout the week.
The Lions’ forwards set them up for the win. They dominated in the rucks and mauls where Len Massyn was in great form.
Flyhalf Xander Kruger managed to shake off the injury woes which clearly troubled him in the first two games and he played a big role in his side’s success.
The Lions scored seven tries in the end – the two by Smit, with the others coming from Ruan Vermaak, Kruger and Franco Tiedt and two from winger Michael Tambwe. Kruger converted six of the tries for a personal tally of 17 points.
In a departure from previous practice, it was announced that the South African Schools A and B teams would not be announced at the end of the main game this year. Instead, the names will be released by SA Rugby next week.
The teams will be involved in a round-robin series of games against the Under-18 teams of England, France and Italy during August.
RESULTS
Border 28 Valke 15; Blue Bulls 40, Boland 19; Leopards 42, Limpopo Blue Bulls 17; Griquas Country 64, Border Country 35; Namibia 29, Zimbabwe 7; Golden Lions 47, Griffons 29; Free State 62, Pumas 35; Griquas 51, E Province Country 10; SWD 24, KwaZulu-Natal 19; Western Province 95, Eastern Province 0 – The Sunday Independent