The SARU Under-17 Interprovincial Sevens got off to a thrilling start at Hoërskool Paarl Gimnasium on Friday with defending champions DHL Western Province and their neighbours, Boland, stamping their authority early on with a full-house of pool victories.

SWD, the Lions, Blue Bulls, Griquas, Falcons and Pumas also had fair starts to the competition as they won two of their three matches.

The opening day proved to be a try festival with 162 tries and 1024 points scored in total. Boland led the try-scoring statistics with 15, followed closely by the Lions who touched down 14 times.

The competition features 16 teams, which includes SA’s 14 provincial unions, the Limpopo Blue Bulls and African Neighbours, Namibia.

Each team played three pool matches on the opening day, which determined whether they would participate in the Cup or Bowl Quarterfinals on Saturday.

To the delight of the players and fans, the Springbok Sevens team and coach Neil Powell attended the Friday’s matches, where they showed their support for the next generation of Sevens players and mingled with the crowd.

DHL Western Province defeated the Griffons 35-12, KwaZulu-Natal 10-5 and the Pumas 29-12, while Boland beat Namibia 24-14, Griquas 52-0 and the Limpopo Blue Bulls 19-10.

The Blue Bulls and Lions also had a solid start to the tournament as they finished the opening day unbeaten as they both defeated Border and the Leopards, while Gauteng sides drew their encounter 19-19.

SWD, meanwhile, defeated Eastern Province 40-0 and the Falcons 40-17, but went down 10-5 against the Free State in their second game.

The Pumas also won their first two matches against KwaZulu-Natal and the Griffons, but hosts DHL WP ended their winning run in the final match of the day.

The Falcons, meanwhile, defeated the Free State 19-12 and Eastern Province 47-14 but went down against SWD in a disappointing end to their day, while Griquas beat the Limpopo Blue Bulls and Namibia, but suffered a heavy 52-0 defeat against Boland.

Saturday’s fixtures will be announced later on Friday evening.

U17 INTERPROVINCIAL SEVENS RESULTS – DAY ONE:

Limpopo Blue Bulls 24 Griquas 31
Boland 24 Namibia 14
Leopards 7 Border 45
Blue Bulls 19 Lions 19
SWD 40 EP 0
Falcons 19 Free State 12
Pumas 36 KZN 7
DHL Western Province 35 Griffons 12
Limpopo Blue Bulls 35 Namibia 14
Boland 52 Griquas 0
Leopards 7 Lions 43
Blue Bulls 26 Border 22
SWD 5 Free State 10
Falcons 47 EP 14
Pumas 26 Griffons 24
DHL Western Province 10 KZN 5
Limpopo Blue Bulls 10 Boland 19
Namibia 26 Griquas 28
Leopards 12 Blue Bulls 38
Lions 24 Border 0
SWD 40 Falcons 17
Free State 19 EP 26
KZN 12 Griffons 26
DHL Western Province 29 Pumas 12