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DHL WP Under-21s stumble in Pretoria

PUBLISHED: August 30, 2014


DHL Western Province’s Under-21 side went down 30-44 to the Blue Bulls Under-21s in Pretoria on Saturday, as the youngsters in Blue & White hoops lost their unbeaten record in the process.

The DHL WP juniors, the defending champions in the Absa Provincial Under-21 competition, trailed by 11-19 at half-time and eventually went down by four tries to six.

No.8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe scored a brace of tries for his side, with flyhalf Robert du Preez weighing in with 15 points on the day, but his efforts were not enough to prevent John Dobson’s side from suffering a first defeat in 2014.

Star lock JD Schickerling was stretchered off early in the match, after taking a heavy knock, whilst Province made uncharacteristic errors on attack which cost them in the end.

The loss means that the Golden Lions now top the 2014 Absa Provincial Under-21 standings, with the DHL Western Province Under-21 side in second place just one point adrift.

Province have a bye next weekend before taking on the selfsame Golden Lions U21s in Johannesburg on the Saturday, September 13.

The scorers:

Vodacom Blue Bulls Under-21:
Tries: Janse van Rensburg, Kriel 2, Enslin, Marais, Stighling
Cons: Marais 4
Pens: Marais 2

For DHL Western Province Under-21:
Tries: Notshe 2, Kotze, Du Preez
Cons: Du Preez 2
Pens: Du Preez 2

The teams:

Vodacom Blue Bulls Under-21: 15 Duncan Matthews, 14 Ganfried May, 13 Dan Kriel, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Kobus Marais, 9 JP Smith, 8 Clyde Davids, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Ruan Steenkamp (captain), 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Jan Enslin, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Nqobisizwe Mxoli, 17 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 18 Dennis Visser, 19 Roelof Smit, 20 Carlo Engelbrecht, 21 Simon Bolze, 22 Jacques Rossouw.

DHL Western Province Under-21: 15 Justin Geduld, 14 EW Viljoen, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Kyle Lombard, 11 JP Lewis, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Jean Nel, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Carel du Preez, 6 Eital Bredenkamp (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 Deacon Chowles, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Sti Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Michael Kennedy, 17 John Meyer, 18 Jan Uys, 19 Jacques Vermeulen, 20 Tapiwa Tsomondo, 21 Jason Marcus, 22 WJ Strydom.

Referee: Jaco Kotze