There is plenty of rugby action ahead of us in Cape Town this weekend, starting with three international youth matches at City Park on Friday and followed by three provincial games at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
Friday’s action will get underway as early as 12h30, when Italy take on the DHL Western Province Under-18 Craven Week XV at City Park.
Thereafter, England’s Under-18s will face up to Wales’s U18s, before the SA Schools Under-18 side (including WP’s Jaco Willemse) take on France. (Entry to City Park is FREE!)
On Saturday, DHL Newlands will welcome three Blue Bulls teams to its hallowed turf, as the DHL Western Province Under-19, Under-21 and Absa Currie Cup sides go head-to-head against their long-time rivals from Pretoria.
DHL Newlands match tickets are priced from just R35 (for standing), whilst seating prices range between R55, R65, R75 and R95.
Tickets can be purchased right now from wprugby.ticketpros.co.za. You can also buy your tickets directly from the DHL Newlands Box Office (opening times this week: Tuesday-Friday, 09h00-16h00 and Saturday, 09h00-14h30), or from selected Western Cape Spar stores and PostNet branches (nationwide). (See a full list of stores and branches HERE.)
The DHL Western Province Absa Currie Cup team opened its 2014 campaign with a clinical 35-16 bonus point win over the EP Kings in Port Elizabeth and will be looking to make it two from two after their first home game of 2014.
The Bulls went down 13-41 to the Lions in Johannesburg last weekend and will be seeking redemption in Cape Town – no doubt using last year’s 24-24 draw at DHL Newlands as inspiration.
At U21 level, WP top the Absa Provincial Under-21 log on points’ difference – from the Golden Lions – and will be looking to strike a big blow against the Bulls juniors as their competition nears its halfway point in the season.
Province have 19 points from their four games thus far – four wins and three four-try bonus points – and they cannot afford to slip up at home with the Lions in action against Border in Johannesburg later in the day. (WP and the Lions, the only unbeaten teams at present, will face each other next week.)
Despite being a flank, WP U21 captain Eital Bredenkamp is the leading try-scorer thus far in the 2014 Provincial Under-21 tournament with an impressive seven tries (including two hat-tricks) in four games.
At Under-19 level, meanwhile, Western Province currently top the log after four rounds of action, with 19 points made up of four wins (three of them coming with a four-try bonus point). The Bulls U19s are their main challengers at the moment on 16 points from four matches. Province, however, are the only unbeaten team in the competition.
Flyhalf Ernst Stapelberg is the overall leading points-scorer with an impressive 70 points, with wing Leolin Zas, who is currently sidelined with a finger injury, the top try-scorer (with four).
FIXTURES FOR THIS WEEKEND:
Friday, August 15 (City Park, Cape Town):
12h30: Italy Under-18 v DHL WP Coca-Cola Under-18 Craven Week XV
14h00: England Under-18 v Wales Under-18
16h00: SA Schools Under-18 v France Under-18
Saturday, August 16 (DHL Newlands):
09h45: DHL Western Province Under-19 v Blue Bulls Under-19 (Absa Provincial U19)
11h45: DHL Western Province Under-21 v Blue Bulls Under-21 (Absa Provincial U21)
14h05: DHL Western Province v Blue Bulls (Absa Currie Cup)
