The Pumas, Sharks, Blue Bulls and Western Province will host Vodacom Cup quarter-finals after a weekend that saw Willem Alberts make a welcome return to rugby.
The big Bok loose forward scored two tries in his first match of the season, as the Sharks finished the league phase with a solid 46-31 win over the Pampas in Durban. Alberts, who had been out with a shoulder injury, played 60 minutes of the match, which the Sharks had sewn up at the break when they led 36-5.
In a complete joke of a rugby match which confirmed the unmitigated failure of the Limpopo experiment, the Lions set a new SA record for the biggest first-class victory ever, when they beat the Limpopo Blue Bulls 161-3. Not that “First class” and “Limpopo Blue Bulls” should ever be used in the same sentence … The previous record was set only a week earlier against, yes, you guessed it, the same inept side. The Pumas crushed the Limpopo Blue Bulls 154-0.
The Lions’ 161 points was only two shy of the most points ever scored in a first-class match in SA, when Lowveld beat Transkei 163-10 in 1994. Their 25 tries is a SA record, while Anthony Volmink’s 9 tries was 1 more than the previous record, set by Mark Watson for Lowveld in that 1994 Transkei debacle.
Volmink’s 47 points – he also slotted a conversion – is a new Vodacom Cup record for the most points by one player in a single match, previously held by Naas Olivier of Griquas (against the Griffons in 2009).
The Lions will travel to Durban to take on the Sharks in their quarter final – the other three quarter-finals are between the Pumas and the Pampas in Nelspruit, Western Province and Griquas in Cape Town and the Blue Bulls and EP Kings in Pretoria. The dates, kick-off times and venues will be confirmed early next week.
Western Province secured home ground advantage with a 75th minute try by Kobus van Wyk, which helped them to a 41-37 win over Free State in Bloemfontein.
Four tries by EP was enough to see off a fiery Boland as they won 27-23 in an exciting match in Malmesbury.
In the final match of the South Section, Karlo Aspeling kicked 20 points in Border’s 25-19 win over SWD in George. It was the Bulldogs’ second successive win of the season as they finished a somewhat disappointing 2013 campaign in style.
The most exciting match in the North Section this weekend, was in Potchefstroom, where the Leopards lost 28-29 to Griquas.
Griquas were too strong for the Valke, winning 40-7 in Kempton Park, with prop Janro van Niekerk sneaking in for a seriously impressive hat-trick of tries.
A particularly one-sided affair at Loftus Versfeld saw the Blue Bulls score 13 tries in crushing the Griffons 89-10.
All the scorers:
Sharks 46 (36) Pampas 31 (5)
Sharks – Tries: Willem Alberts (2), Jaco van Tonder, Kotaro Matsushima, Marius Joubert, Robbie Harris. Conversions: Fred Zeilinga (5). Penalty goals: Zeilinga (2).
Pampas – Tries: Juan Pablo Estelles (2), Leonardo Senatore, Mariano Galarza, Ramiro Moyano. Conversions: Benjamin Madero (2), Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias.
Leopards 28 (6) v Pumas 29 (13)
Leopards– Tries: Brendon Snyman, Henro Swart, Hoffman Maritz. Conversions: Adriaan Engelbrecht (2). Penalty goals: Warren Gilbert (3).
Pumas – Tries: Rosko Specman, Uzair Cassiem, Vincent Koch. Conversion: Carl Bezuidenhout. Penalty goals: Bezuidenhout (4).
SWD 19 (12) Border 25 (12)
SWD – Tries: Alshaun Bock, Clinton Wagman, Martin du Toit. Conversions: Elric van Vuuren, Jeff Taljard.
Border– Try: Chrislyn van Schalkwyk. Conversion: Karlo Aspeling. Penalty goals: Aspeling.
Blue Bulls 89 (26) Griffons 10 (3)
Blue Bulls – Tries: Nardus van der Walt (2), Rohan Janse van Rensburg (2), Dries Swanepoel (2), Wiaan Liebenberg, Jacques du Plessis, Courtnall Skosan, Vainon Willis, Clayton Blommetjies, Tony Jantjies, Sampie Mastriet. Conversions: Willie du Plessis (8), Jantjies (4).
Griffons – Try: Aubrey McDonald. Conversion: Hansie Graaff. Penalty goal: Graaff.
Valke 7 (0) Griquas 40 (21)
Valke – Try: Sandile Ngcobo. Conversion: Jaun Kotze.
Griquas – Tries: Enrico Acker, Janro van Niekerk (3), Leon Karemaker (2). Conversions: Pieter-Steyn de Wet (5).
Lions 161 (74) Limpopo Blue Bulls 3 (3)
Lions – Tries: Anthony Volmink (9), Ross Cronje, Jaco Kriel (2), Warren Whiteley, JP du Plessis, Lionel Cronje, Chrysander Botha (3), Julian Redelinghuys, Francois du Toit, Guy Cronje, Deon Helberg, Vian van der Watt, JJ Breedt, Dylan des Fountain. Conversions: Guy Cronje (12), Botha, Volmink, Kobus de Kock, Ross Cronje (3).
Limpopo Blue Bulls – Penalty: Bronwyn Craill.
Boland 23 (13) EP 27 (8)
Boland– Tries: Senan van der Merwe, Ashton Constant. Conversions: Jacquin Jansen (2). Penalties: Jansen (3).
Eastern Province– Tries: Paul Schoeman, Stefan Willemse, Kyle van Zyl, Devin Oosthuizen. Conversions: Van Zyl (2). Penalty: Scott van Breda.
Free State 37 (17) DHL Western Province 41 (24)
Free State– Tries: Boom Prinsloo (2), Teboho Mohoje, Tewis de Bruyn. Conversions: Riaan Smit (3), Nico Scheepers. Penalties: Smit, Scheepers (2).
Western Province – Tries: Berton Klaasen (2), Cheslin Kolbe, Michael van der Spuy, Kobus van Wyk. Conversions: Kurt Coleman (5). Penalties: Coleman (2).
