On a day punctuated with handling errors caused by the wet conditions, Eastern Cape’s top teams, Border Central and Eastern Province, were let down by poor game management after leading for the majority of their U13 Craven Week games at Selborne College on Thursday.
Border Central drew 17-17 with the Valke while EP were beaten 10-5 by the Limpopo Blue Bulls in a game that went down to the wire.
As in their previous two games, Border Central took an early lead through a converted try from Luke Mpangele.
The Queens Primary outside centre stripped the ball from a Valke attack just outside his 22m line and sprinted the length of the field to score under the poles.
Gert Booysen quickly responded for the Valke to level matters.
The tactic of stripping the Valke’s attack ball worked again for Border’s second try.
Captain Esona Nqayana, who has been the standout player for Border, stole the ball from the Valke’s Jan-Hendrik Wilken inside their 22m and passed to his Queens teammate, Karabo Chakela.
It was Queens Primary again as flyhalf Motheo Mabe added three points from the kicking tee for Border.
Valke prop Booysen dotted for his brace, but his side trailed 17-12 at halftime.
Nathan de Beer levelled matters for the Valke, and that would be the last points scored in the game.
EP, like their neighbours, controlled matters in terms of possession, territory and points advantage in the first half of their Limpopo Blue Bulls game.
They had a five-point lead at halftime courtesy of scrumhalf Jaquin Ballet, who was arguably the player of the match.
But the momentum shifted to Limpopo in the second half after Eben Smit’s seven-pointer and a penalty kick from FC Thirion.
The theme of scoring first continued with the Border B team in their game against the Sharks B.
Hudson Park prop Likhona Gqojana dotted a converted try and drew first blood for Border, but they let the Sharks walk away with a 10-7 win.
Border Country Districts showed resilience against 2024 number one seeds and unofficial champions the Blue Bulls, even though the score ended up being 48-3.
The three points came via the boot of Douglas Ross Primary kicker Hlumelo Kilana.
Though this was coach Malibongwe Kradu’s charges’ third defeat, it was considered a slight improvement on their 80-plus defeat on Tuesday.
The EP B were beaten 22-11 by Western Province B.
In the main game, Boland beat the Sharks 20-5. This means the Western Cape head into the final day on Friday with a chance of being named unofficial champions.
Other results on Thursday: Free State B 20 Zimbabwe 22, Leopards B 33 Limpopo Blue Bulls B 7, Valke B 14 Griffons B 8, Leopards 10 Griquas 0, Blue Bulls B 0 SWD B 15, Griquas B 7 Pumas B 5, Golden Lions 7 Free State 8, SWD 35 Griffons 5, Namibia 22 Golden Lions C 8, Western Province 31 Pumas 12, Golden Lions B 0 Boland B 24
Daily Dispatch
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