Yes it’s a watered down Currie Cup shivering in the shade of Super Rugby, but it’s worth just catching up on the weekend’s results and scorers …
The Sharks own the top spot in the South section, but half the teams in the North Section kicked the season off with a full house of five log points.
The log jam in the north was thanks to bonus-point wins on Saturday afternoon for the Pumas, Griffons, Lions and the Blue Bulls.
The Pumas were simply way too strong for the Valke in Nelspruit and scored 10 tries en route to a 62-0 victory, with Uzair Cassien (flank) getting the first hat-trick of the 2013 Vodacom Cup season in the 46th minute of this encounter.
Hot on their heels were the Griffons, who taught new boys, the Limpopo Blue Bulls, a lesson. Nicky Steyn scored three tries for the visitors.
At Pirates Rugby Club in Johannesburg, the Lions beat their western neighbours, the Leopards 45-15, scoring seven tries in the process.
But probably most impressive were the Blue Bulls, who overcame a tricky hurdle when they beat Griquas 40-32 in Kimberley. The visitors scored six tries to five – two of these in the final five minutes of the match – as they had to fight back to get their season off to a perfect start.
Western Province needed a late try by Jody Reyneke and conversion by Gary van Aswegen to draw level with Boland in front of more than 7,500 people in picturesque Ceres. Supporters of the home team thought the Cavaliers were going to score an upset victory when Ashton Constant scored a converted seven minutes from full-time, but the Capetonians did not let up and pulled level with less than three minutes left on the clock.
In Port Elizabeth, Wesley Dunlop kicked a penalty goal in the 80th minute to give EP a 20-20 draw against the Pampas.
On Friday, the Sharks and Free State kicked their campaigns off with impressive away victories over Border and SWD respectively. The Sharks ran in 10 tries as Fred Zeilinga contributed 32 of their points in a 72-6 rout of the Bulldogs in Durban. Down the N2, in George, the Free Staters only managed three tries, but still beat the Eagles comfortably by 31-8. Tewis de Bruyn kicked 16 points for the visitors.
Border 6 (6) Sharks 72 (20)
Border– Penalties: Karlo Aspeling (2).
Sharks– Tries: S’bura Sithole, Tyler Fisher (2), Fred Zeilinga (2), Sizo Maseko (2), Heimar Williams, Gouws Prinsloo, Hanco Venter. Conversions: Zeilinga (8). Penalties: Zeilinga (2).
SWD 8 (5) Free State 31 (16)
SWD– Try: Grant Kemp. Penalty: Elric van Vuuren
Free State– Tries: Neil Claassen, Eddie Fredericks, Ludwig Erasmus. Conversions: Tewis de Bruyn (2). Penalties: De Bruyn (4).
Boland Cavaliers 17 (7) Western Province 17 (10)
Boland– Tries: Chris Buckle, Ashton Constant. Conversions: Ricardo Croy, Jacquin Jansen. Penalty: Jansen.
Western Province – Tries: Chris Cloete, Devon Williams, Jody Reyneke. Conversion: Gary van Aswegen.
Griquas 32 (20) Blue Bulls 40 (21)
Griquas – Tries: PJ Vermeulen, Marnus Schoeman, Penalty try, Edwin Hewitt, Simon Westraadt. Conversions: Vermeulen (2). Penalty: Francois Brummer.
Blue Bulls – Tries: Dries Swanepoel, Ruan Snyman (2), Francois Venter, Wiaan Liebenberg, Sampie Mastriet. Conversions: Tony Jantjies (3), Handré Pollard (2).
Lions 45 (12) Leopards 15 (8)
Lions – Tries: Deon van Rensburg, JJ Breet, Lionel Cronje, Robbie Coetzee, Warren Whiteley, Antonie Volminck, Andries Coetzee. Conversions: Lionel Cronje (2), Marnitz Boshoff (3).
Leopards– Tries: Danie Dames, Armand van der Merwe. Penalty: Warren Gilbert. Conversion: Andre Pretorius.
Limpopo Blue Bulls 15 (6) Griffons 50 (31)
Limpopo Blue Bulls – Try: Bernard Groenewald. Penalties: Bronwyn Craill (3).
Griffons – Tries: Nicky Steyn (3), Colin Herbert (2), Shane Hancke, Martin Sithole, Oshwill Nortje. Conversions: Louis Strydom (5).
EP 20 (14) Pampas XV 20 (9)
EP– Try: Siviwe Soyizwapi. Penalties: Wesley Dunlop (4), Scott van Breda.
Pampas – Try: Manuel Montero. Penalties: Benjamin Madero (5).
Pumas 62 (36) Valke 0
Pumas – Tries: De-Jay Terblanche, Jaco Bouwer (2), Tiaan Marx, Uzair Cassiem (3), Vincent Koch (2), Wilhelm Loock. Conversions: Marx (6).
Valke – 0.
