The Eastern Province rugby boys were involved in three thrilling matches at the u/16 Grant Khomo Week.
They were unlucky to only win one of their matches, but produced exciting rugby throughout last week’s tournament at Grey High in Gqeberha.
The secretary of EP High Schools, Neville Botha, said it was an honour to host this prestigious week for the first time.
“We are very happy. Good crowds attended the matches and the week was a boost for the local economy,” Botha said.
Not many gave EP a winning chance against the mighty Western Province, the champion side of the week, in the main match on the first day.
EP surprised critics with a spirited performance, and it was only late in the match that WP secured victory, winning a very entertaining encounter 38–25.
At half-time EP was leading 15–14, and it took a huge effort from the visitors to get the upper hand in the second half.
In the first half EP impressed with strong scrummaging, and their exciting backs tested the WP defence.
Erin Nelson, Lucritia Magua, Will Stevens, Eric van Zyl, and Josh van Zyl caught the eye with tremendous efforts for the home side.
It is not often that a player on the defeated team is named the man of the match, but the vote went to Nelson, the EP vice-captain.
The strong centre had a brilliant match and was rewarded with two tries.
EP came up against a familiar face in this match, Travis Pheiffer.
The former Grey fly-half was an EP hero at last year’s tournament, and had a solid performance for his new province on his old hunting ground.
In their second match EP was unlucky not to come away with a victory.
The Golden Lions hung on desperately to win a match which was in the balance throughout. The Lions got home 19–12.
Nelson had another solid outing, scoring one of EP’s two tries.
The final match for EP was against WP XV and it was a tremendous effort from the local team to pull this one through, winning 36–33. The trusty boot of Stevens was a key factor in the well-deserved victory.
EP were crowned champions for the second year in a row at the LSEN Week in Potchefstroom.
The team, mostly players from Bergsig in Kariega, beat the Golden Lions 15–5, South Western Districts 77–3, and WP 17–7.
Today is the second day of the u/18 Craven Week in Krugersdorp. We will review EP’s performance in next week’s edition.
U/13 Craven Week results – Pretoria
A-team: Blue Bulls 60, EP 7; EP 20, Border 17; EP 22, Griquas 15; Sharks 17, EP 3.
B-team: Leopards 19, EP 15; Free State 14, EP 10; Pumas 24, EP 12; EP 34, Griffons 7.
