The DHL Western Province Under-19 team opened their 2015 Absa Provincial Under-19 season with a last-gasp 10-6 win over a determined Sharks U19 outfit at City Park on Saturday afternoon.
Replacement DHL WP hooker Ruan Brits powered his way over the goalline virtually on the stroke of full-time to secure the win, that after that Sharks had kicked what looked like the match-winning penalty goal seconds before.
Sharks U19 flyhalf Tristan Tedder landed a simple penalty goal in the 69th minute of play, DHL WP having conceded a penalty in front of the posts as they looked to run the ball out of their 22m area, but the hosts showed great composure to win the ball from the restart and rumble the ball up-field through their pack.
Brits then got the ball from close-range and he stormed over for the only try of the game to give Province a good start to their campaign in a match that was characterised by a high error-count.
However, the WP youngsters deserved plenty of credit for not giving up hope and for showing great composure to win the ball from the kick-off in the lead-up to Brits’s try and exiting well from the final restart of the match after Brits’s five-pointer.
The DHL WP U19s, the reigning Provincial Under-19 champions, were without lock Eduard Zandberg, flanker Saud Abrahams and wingers Duncan Saal and Edwill van der Merwe for this match.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province Under-19:
Try: Brits
Con: Cupido
Pen: Cupido
For Cell C Sharks Under-19:
Pens: Tedder 2
The teams:
DHL Western Province Under-19: 15 Gerard Pieterse, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Justin Heunis, 12 Edrich Venter, 11 Wayne Smith, 10 Aidynn Cupido, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Jaco Coetzee (captain), 7 Mervano da Silva, 6 Mitchell Carstens, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Jaco Willemse, 3 Michael Kumbirai, 2 Percy Mngadi, 1 Ruben Terblanche.
Replacements: 16 Ruan Brits, 17 Carl Prinsloo, 18 Jerome Korf, 19 Human Bodenstein, 20 Iver Aanhuizen, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Tiaan Swanepoel, 23 Kurt-Lee Arendse.
Sharks Under-19: 15 Morne Joubert, 14 S’busiso Nkosi, 13 Tristan Blewett, 12 Alwayno Visagie, 11 Chris Lines, 10 Tristan Tedder, 9 Jaya Juries, 8 Ruan Smook, 7 Bernardus Haring, 6 Michael Meyer (captain), 5 Christiaan van der Merwe, 4 Rikus Zwart, 3 Kabelo Motloung, 2 Bradley Roberts, 1 Wentzel Vorster.
Replacements: 16 Ulric Sellar, 17 Qthon Lombard, 18 John Vorster, 19 Rowan Coetzer, 20 Armand Grobler, 21 Gervin Rossouw, 22 Steph Nel, 23 Brent Christoffels.
Referee: Renier Vermeulen
