Park beat Spring Rose in Grand Challenge battle
● Police-Crusaders next target in Gqeberha side’s campaign to lift trophy
In-form Park laid down an early marker that they plan to be in the running for EPRU Grand Challenge Cup club rugby honours when they beat Spring Rose 24-6 at the New Brighton Oval on Saturday.
After thrashing Kareedouw Tigers 86-7 in their opening outing, the Londt Park side maintained momentum with victory over a determined Spring Rose outfit.
Park, who have former Elephants players in their ranks, have emerged as early front runners in Group C, where their main rivals are expected to be Kruisfontein United.
It was a second consecutive loss for Spring Rose, who will have to go back to the drawing board after they were beaten 36-10 by Star of Hope at the Jabavu Stadium last week.
No Grand Challenge fixtures are planned for Saturday and the tournament resumes on May 6, when a full round of matches is scheduled.
Park will be hoping to build on their early successes when they face the newly amalgamated Police-Crusaders side in their next outing.
So far life has been tough for the merged team and they slumped to a second loss when they went down 20-7 against Star of Hope.
Spring Rose will be keen to use the break to iron out any issues in their game plan before taking on Kareedouw Tigers in Kareedouw.
Defending champions Progress romped to an easy 580 win over an outclassed Missionvale side at the Central Field in Kariega.
After an EC Super 14 quarterfinal exit and a narrow defeat in the Saldanha Super 8 Easter tournament final,
Progress rebounded with a 3610 win over Windvogel United last week.
With two early wins under their belt, Progress are back in the sort of form that spells danger for Lily White in the next round of the competition.
After stumbling to a narrow 37-35 defeat to Suburban in their opener, Harlequins kept their supporters on the edge of their seats before they subdued Central 38-35 in a nail-biter at the Adcock Stadium.
Harlequins, who progressed to the EC Super 14 semifinals earlier in 2023 after knocking out champions Progress, face Aberdeen in the next round.
In Group B, Gardens earned valuable points on the road in Cradock when they beat Evergreens 31-24 in an entertaining clash.
A well-balanced Kirkwood side, who are among the favourites to advance to the playoffs, beat St Marks 38-7 in a Group D clash.
In an action-packed Group A match, Born Fighters edged Despatch 27-21 in a fast-paced Group A clash in Somerset East.
Saturday ’ s results:
Spring Rose 6 Park 24, Progress 58 Missionvale 0, Harlequins 38 Central 35, Evergreens Cradock 24 Gardens 31, PoliceCrusaders 7 Star of Hope 20, Kirkwood 38 St Marks 7, Trying Stars 31 Lily White 6, Born Fighters 27 Despatch 21, Adelaide Rangers 34 Aberdeen 31.
May 6 fixtures (3.30pm kickoffs): Group A: Makhanda Brumbies v Born Fighters (Makhanda), Despatch v Trying Stars (De Wet Stadium), Lilywhite v Progress (Mickey Yili).
Group B: Motherwell v Evergreens (Mothwerwell), Gardens v Adelaide Rangers (Derrick Ferreira), Aberdeen v Harlequins (Aberdeen), Central v Subiurban (Kollie Koebery).
Group C: Kareedouw Tigers v Spring Rose (Kareedouw), Park v Police-Crusaders (Londt Park), Star of Hope v Kruisfontein (Jabavu Stadium), United Barbarians v Joubertina United (Patensie).
Group D: Orlando Eagles v Despatch Oostelikes (Thornhill), Jeffreys Bay v Kirkwood (venue to be decided), St Marks v NMU Madibaz (Paterson High School), Hankey Villagers v Kwaru (Hankey).