Tournament final Sharks star Bosch earns halted by interdict high praise from Du Preez
THE Eastern Cape Super 12 Club Rugby tournament final was postponed on Saturday after a court interdict was lodged by the Progress Rugby Club against the Eastern Province Rugby Union (EPRU), the steering committee of the Super 12 Club rugby tournament and Gardens and East London Police rugby clubs.
The interdict came after Progress appealed against a complaint, saying that Gardens had failed to adhere to Rule 2.9 of the competition’s constitution that states a red-carded player should be ruled out for three consecutive matches.
“The steering committee has the power to not only change the rules but to also show fairness in the tournament,” tournament director and treasurer, Phumelele Hlathi said.
“It is a pity that the committee failed to convince the court that we do have the power and that the matter should be taken back to the EPRU.”
However, the outcome of the court ruling was that the tournament should be postponed until all affected parties resolve the matter with EPRU.
The committee is looking to hold a disciplinary hearing tomorrow.
Hlalthi said they were left with the daunting task of deciding to cancel the tournament and offer teams a participation fee.
“The tournament cannot delay any longer as this is a conditional grant from the Department of Sport nationally. The tournament has to be finished by Friday March 31,” he said.
Steering committee members said the debacle had had a negative impact on club rugby and development in the Eastern Province as the teams concerned would now have to miss a further two weeks of other club rugby competitions.
“The on-and-off nature of this competition has disillusioned spectators and locals are now starting to lose interest.”
East London Police, eager to play in the final, felt the strain of the postponement as their trip to Uitenhage was in vain.
“The morale in the team has dropped,” East London Police communications officer Andiswa Mntunjani said.
The EPRU Grand Challenge club rugby tournament has returned and the first fixtures took place on Saturday with teams using the Eastern Cape Super 12 tournament as preparation for the competition.
Progress, Gardens and East London Police, who have been affected by the disciplinary interdict, have been force to miss out on the first matches in the Grand Challenge. THE Sharks lost their ability to entertain a long time ago but their mechanical efficiency works well for coach Robert du Preez.
They needed to be pragmatic and were also reliant on a mature performance from Curwin Bosch in their 38-30 win over the Cheetahs.
The former Grey High School pupil contributed 18 points and it leaves Du Preez in a quandary of where to play him when Pat Lambie recovers from his back injury.
“Pat is in a class of his own but we have the strength of Curwin also being a good fullback because he will have a lot of space to exploit when he plays there‚” Du Preez said.
“He is ready to play flyhalf now and when Pat is back‚ we will be in a good position and Curwin will go back to fullback.
“He has got the confidence and when you play at 10‚ you just have to make all the calls when the team is under pressure. There is a lot of responsibility at 10‚ whereas there is not so much of it at 15.
“He’s definitely got BMT and he has also got some pedigree.
“We just need to be careful about him because he is still young and we still need to look after him. However‚ he is one for the future.”
Sharks captain Lubabalo “Tera” Mtembu had the benefit of watching Bosch’s mature outing against a side that has caused the Sharks endless and unexpected misery over the years.
With the forwards giving Bosch an excellent platform and also playing better than they did last week against the Southern Kings‚ Mtembu said Bosch was developing into an excellent match-winner.
“Curwin is playing some phenomenal rugby at the moment‚” he said.
“He has come off the bench
He’s definitely got BMT and he has also got some pedigree
and won us games and he won us the game here. Credit also has to be given to the team, because this was a team effort at the end of the day.
“They gave the platform but he is a special player. May his career continue to grow.”
With the Lions next for the Sharks‚ Du Preez knows his team will have to be better but he was thankful for the win.
The fact that they missed out on a bonus point did not worry Du Preez.
“We will take the win any day, but with that‚ we said we wanted to score tries and we got four of them,” he said.