Border and Eastern Province continued to dominate in the SARU Women’s Interprovincial series this weekend as they registered their second round of victories, whilst 2013 finalists, DHL Western Province, bounced back to secure their first win of the season.
In an exciting second round on Saturday, defending champions Border thrashed KwaZulu-Natal 43-3 at the BCM Stadium in East London, Eastern Province edged the Blue Bulls 26-24 at Loftus Versfeld and DHL WP thumped SWD 55-3 in Cape Town.
The clash in Cape Town was largely one-sided as Western Province stamped their authority to score six tries to none by SWD for an emphatic 55-3 victory.
The favourable result allowed Springbok Women’s prop Laurian Johannes to celebrate her special milestone of becoming the first women’s player at the Western Province Rugby Union to earn 50 provincial caps in style.
The victory for DHL Western Province also allowed them to get their campaign back on track following their narrow 15-12 defeat against Eastern Province in the opening round, whilst the defeat for SWD marked their second in as many matches as they went down 38-7 against Border in their opening match.
Border, meanwhile, took control of their match against KwaZulu-Natal from the outset with the team touching down seven tries to only a penalty by the Durban side.
Four of their tries were scored in the first half, with Springboks Mandisa Williams, Ziyanda Tywaleni and Asithandile Ntoyanto earning one a piece, while Aviwe Peteni scored the other. This earned the East London team an encouraging 24-3 lead at the break.
They built on this fine form in the second half thanks to their smooth attack and solid defence and earned the rewards as Tywaleni crossed the tryline two more times for her hat-trick, while Williams earned her second try. Such was the team’s dominance, KwaZulu-Natal battled to respond, and were forced to settle for only three points to show for their efforts.
In stark contrast, the clash between the Blue Bulls and Eastern Province in Pretoria was a tight affair from the opening exchanges. Each side scored two first-half tries, but a penalty by veteran Springbok and Blue Bulls back Yolanda Meiring, handed the hosts a 17-14 half-time lead.
Eastern Province, however, showed their fighting spirit in the second half as they tightened up their defence and continued to force their way over the advantage line, which allowed them to double their try tally to four for the match. In return, the Blue Bulls could only add one second-half try, which allowed the Port Elizabeth team to secure a narrow 26-24 win.
SARU Women’s Interprovincial results (Round Two):
DHL Western Province 55 SWD 3 (City Park Stadium, Cape Town)
Border 43 KwaZulu-Natal 3 (BCM Stadium, East London)
Blue Bulls 24 Eastern Province 26 (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)
