KwaZulu-Natal faced Eastern Province in their second match on Day Four at the Under-18 Coca-Cola Craven Week at the Markötter Sports Complex at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch on Thursday.
Despite a lack of discipline as both sides received red cards, it remained a hard-fought match as both teams threw everything at one another on attack and defence, as the clash resembled the intensity of a Test match.
Many would have thought the match is over as a contest after the Durban based side was reduced to 14 men in the thirty first minute, but the boys showed real character as they fought until the very last second.
Natal’s flyhalf Bader Pretorius opened the scoring in the sixteenth minute with a penalty to take a 3-0 lead.
Eastern Province replied with a try through eighthman, Khewzi Mafu. Curwin Bosch added the two points on offer as they took a 7 – 3 lead.
EP’s golden boy, Bosch extended their lead as he kicked a dropgoal, his forth of the tournament, to give his team a 10 – 3 half time lead.
Heino Bezuidenhout scored EP’s second try shortly after the break to extend their lead to 17 – 3 after another successful conversion from Bosch.
Natal replied with back-to-back tries, the first through Marco Palvie and the second through Pretorius. Pretorius converted his own try to bring his team within two points, 15 – 17.
Bosch was on target with two long-range penalties to give EP an eight point cushion, 23 – 15, as the game reached the final minutes.
Natal’s eighthman Palvie scored his second try in injury time. Pretorius added the extras but it made no difference to the final outcome as Eastern Province came out victors by a single point, 23 – 22.
Natal will face South Western Districts in their final match on Saturday.
Scorers:
KwaZulu-Natal (3) 22 – Tries: Bader Pretorius, Marco Palvie (2). Conversions: Bader Pretorius (2). Penalty: Bader Pretorius.
Eastern Province (10) 23 – Tries: Khewzi Mafu, Heino Bezuidenhout. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2). Penalties: Curwin Bosch (2). Drop Goal: Curwin Bosch.
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Bad luck boys. Well done for the character you showed! Good luck for the last game…
How did the boys perform in previous years…are they showing improvement, is their greater quality players coming through the local schools?
@FireTheLooser (Comment 2) : Yes i def think some improvement. Yes not major improvement but there def is improvement. Just seems a common trend for the Natal sides to take ages to get into a game and then forced to play catchup.
@SheldonK (Comment 3) : They have been better this year than in the very recent past. They were unlucky not to win yesterday. I thought they would struggle more…and then when they went down to 14 men in the first half I thought we’d get thumped. But we did well under the circumstances. They could have been in the final…better…
Any truth in the rumor that Curwin Bosch is going to the Sharks and is the highest paid schoolboy recruit ever?
@Saarks (Comment 5) : I’ve read it in a couple of places, but no official confirmation yet…as the school rugby blog says: It seems that by the time it is announced it will be the worst kept secret ever. We’ll have to see…
@Saarks (Comment 5) : taps nose.
I’m sure something official will be said after Craven Week
Well let’s hope this Bosch youngster survives the hype into senior rugby, as many a craven week player falls flat playing senior rugby – Swiel and Robert Ebersohn springs to mind (and Earl Rose, if I’m not mistaken)….I’m sure there’s many more that never quite delivered on the hype.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 8) : ja that’s true/lots can still happen before he plays senior rugby but if it’s true he better be the real deal and produce at all levels for that amount of money!!!!
@robdylan (Comment 7) : ja boet all will be revealed after this week is done!!!! However somehow I hope they got the amount of money wrong and that the Sharks did not sign him for that amount of money per year!!!!
Our boys lost again today 19-24 against SWD…
@pastorshark (Comment 11) : Did you see the final match score?
WP 95 – 0 EP 😯
@FireTheLooser (Comment 12) : Insane!
@FireTheLooser (Comment 12) : I saw that… 😯 😯 😯