EP U13s hold off Bulls to set up final showdown with WP

THE U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week and the U16 Grant Khomo Week will conclude on a thrilling note in Bloemfontein today.

Western Province teams will be involved in the final matches of both tournaments, with the U13s meeting Eastern Province and the U16s up against South Western Districts.

All four teams were unbeaten after the fourth day yesterday.

In the U13 week, Eastern Province held their nerve in a nail-biting match against the Blue Bulls to win 29-17, while WP defeated the Golden Lions 31-5.

EP delivered a fine performance on attack and defence against the Bulls.

The first half was tight as the teams entered the break at 10-10, but the Eastern Cape outfit broke away in the second half with three tries .

They also showed fantastic commitment on defence to shut out the Pretoria side, whose only points in the half came from a late try.

WP also produced a quality display against the Lions with their forwards and backs combining well.

The Johannesburg side scored first, but WP showed patience and innovation on attack to score five tries.

KwaZulu-Natal used their speed against the Griffons as they spread the ball wide throughout the match to win 34-5. This strategy earned them six tries, with wing Ntando Zwane scoring three.

Griquas registered the biggest score of the day as they ran riot against Border County Districts to cross the tryline 16 times in a 94-0 victory.

The clash between the Falcons and Leopards was tight as both teams tried to use their big forwards to gain supremacy.

The Falcons led 10-7 at the break and scored two secondhalf tries to complete a 20-14 victory. Free State survived a strong second-half fightback from the Pumas after leading 36-7 at the break to claim a 41-31 victory.

The hosts were in fine form in the first half as they showed fantastic skill on attack, which allowed them to score at will.

The Pumas, however, remained composed and forced their way back into the game after the break to finish the match with five tries to the Free State’s seven.

SWD staged a dramatic comeback from 12-0 down at the break to pip the Limpopo Blue Bulls 24-22 thanks to four second-half tries.

Both sides finished the match with four tries, but two successful conversions by SWD to only one by the Limpopo side sealed the victory.

A last-gasp try by Namibia in the dying seconds earned them a 15-10 victory against Zimbabwe in a thrilling game where neither side gave an inch.

Namibia scored twice in the first half, but Zimbabwe hit back to trail 10-5 at the break.

They built on this in the opening minutes of the second half with a try in the corner to level the scores.

Both teams tried hard to break the deadlock before Namibia finally crossed for the winning try.

Boland delivered a strong second-half showing in a competitive match against Border to register a 32-22 victory.

The teams entered the second half level at 17-17, but the Western Cape side did well to convert their chances into points to secure the win.