Neighbours to meet at first hurdle

EP square off against SWD in opening game at Craven Week

EASTERN Province will face Southern Cape neighbours South Western Districts in their opening match on the second day of the Coca-Cola Craven Week rugby tournament in Johannesburg next week.

The annual schools interprovincial will take place at St Stithians from July 17-22 and is being held in Johannesburg for the fourth time, having previously taken place there in 1974, 1989 and 2006.

EP’s match will be a repeat of the 2014 main game when the tournament was played in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, with the Nelson Mandela Bay team taking the honours 23-7 on that occasion.

The EP Country Districts side will also play their first match on the second day of the week when they take on Griqualand West.

The Blue Bulls, usually one of the powerhouses at Craven Week, will lock horns with KwaZulu-Natal on the second day, with the winners likely to meet the EP-SWD victors on the Thursday to decide who qualifies for the main game on the Saturday.

The EP squad, under the captaincy of powerful Grey High No 8 Bevan Prinsloo, includes eight of his teammates, while Brandwag are also well represented with seven players.

The team will be looking to gel quickly in the Highveld conditions and a good performance on the opening day would set them up for an intriguing encounter on the Thursday.

Western Province, who have won the final match for the past two years, face a much tougher path to the final this year as they have been grouped with Free State and the Golden Lions to play on the opening day.

WP should be too strong for the Pumas in their opening fixture. If that happens, it will be interesting to see who they play in the unofficial semifinal on the Wednesday.

The Golden Lions lost 27-20 to WP in the tournament’s main game last year and they will be eager to make amends this year.

They will open their programme on the first day against Border.

Perennial title challengers Free State will also be in action on the first day, taking on Boland.

Wins for WP, the Golden Lions and Free State could leave the organisers with a difficult decision on who will compete in the main “semifinal” on the Wednesday.

Fixtures: July 17: Griffons v Griqualand West Country Districts, Limpopo Blue Bulls v Border Country Districts, Free State v Boland, Western Province v Pumas, Golden Lions v Border July 18: Falcons v Namibia, Leopards v Zimbabwe, Griqualand West v Eastern Province Country Districts, South Western Districts v Eastern Province, Blue Bulls v KwaZulu-Natal