The DHL Western Province Under-19 and Under-21 teams and their counterparts from the Vodacom Blue Bulls will contest Saturday’s Absa U19 and Absa U21 Provincial Finals at DHL Newlands.

The Blue Bulls teams booked their trip by beating the Cell C Sharks 43-20 (Under-19) and Xerox Golden Lions 23-19 (Under-21) in their semifinals played at Loftus Versfeld.

The DHL WP Under-21 side had too much class for the Toyota Free State at DHL Newlands, winning 41-17, while the DHL WP Under-19 side won 29-22 against the Free State in Bloemfontein earlier in the day.

Saturday’s junior finals will get underway at 12h30 (Under-19) and 14h30 (Under-21), respectively, at DHL Newlands. (Season ticket holders – READ THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION NOW!)

MATCH SUMMARIES:

Vodacom Blue Bulls Under-19s 43 Cell C Sharks Under-19s 20

A strong performance by the defending Absa Currie Cup Under-19 title defenders saw the Vodacom Blue Bulls U19s score six tries to beat the Sharks 43-20.

The home side’s backline proved too strong and skilful for the visitors and all but one of their tries were scored by the backs. Two of those came from Jurie Linde, who broke through the Sharks defence often.

The Sharks, who managed a win over the Blue Bulls a couple of weeks ago, this time had no answers to the speed and guile of the Bulls.

Scorers:

Vodacom Blue Bulls U19s: Tries: Dewald Human, Jurie Linde (2), Jinx Molapo, Menzi Nhlabathi, Wyatt Murphy. Conversions: Human (5). Penalty: Human.
Cell C Sharks U19s: Tries: Johan du Toit, Mandla Ngcobo. Conversions: Innocent Radebe (2). Penalties: Radebe (2).

Toyota Free State Under-19s 22 DHL Western Province Under-19s 29

The visiting DHL WP team clinched a finals spot by beating Free State 29-22, scoring two tries to the three of the home side.

Poor goal-kicking cost the hosts, with kickable points being missed. In contrast, Province U19 flyhalf Ernst Stapelberg kicked seven successful kicks and that, along with a strong start in the first half, helped his side over the line.

Scorers:

Free State U19s: Tries: Hendri Storm, Jasper Wiese, Reinach Venter. Conversions: Andre Swarts (2). Penalty: Swarts.
DHL WP U19s: Tries: Justin Phillips, Leolin Zas. Conversions: Ernst Stapelberg (2). Penalties: Stapelberg (5).

Vodacom Blue Bulls Under-21s 23 Xerox Golden Lions Under-21s 19

A late rally by the home side secured a place in the Absa Currie Cup Under-21 Provincial final next weekend. The Golden Lions had most of the play in the first half, leading 14-10 at the break, but could not sustain their effort in the second half.

The Blue Bulls came back strongly, forcing the visitors into numerous errors.

Flyhalf Joshua Stander punished the visitors for their errors and kicked three penalties, with the last two getting the Blue Bulls in a winning position.

Stander also scored a try for a personal tally of 18 points.

Scorers:

Vodacom Blue Bulls U21s: Tries: Joshua Stander, Rohan Janse van Rensburg. Conversions: Stander (2). Penalties: Stander (3).
Xerox Golden Lions U21s: Tries: Jean-Pierre Du Preez, Koch Marx, Malcolm Marx. Conversions: Ruan Janse van Rensburg (2).

DHL Western Province Under-21s 41 Toyota Free State Under-21s 17

The home side had too many guns for their Bloemfontein visitors and ran away with the match in the first half.

Free State could never get dominance in the game and WP scored six tries in a pretty impressive performance, which saw them lead 24-3 at half-time.

Scorers:

DHL WP U21s: Tries: Jan-Frederik Uys, Johnny Kotze, Justin Geduld, Kyle Lombard, Michael Willemse, Willem Strydom. Conversions: Robert du Preez (4), Penalty: Du Preez.
Free State U21s: Tries: Francois Bester, Hendrik Theron. Conversions: Henry Immelman, Ruan Potgieter. Penalties: Marx Bornman.