WP take top honours at the SARU u/18 Sevens

Boland won the plate final, KwaZulu-Natal the Bowl final and Griquas the shield final, while the Leopards defeated the Limpopo Blue Bulls to finish the competition in third position.

Western Province recovered from a 26-19 defeat against Free State in their opening match on Monday and worked their way into the final thanks to their impressive attack and tenacious defence.

The team started the final day’s play with an encouraging 32-21 victory against the Blue Bulls in the cup quarterfinal and then toppled the Limpopo Blue Bulls 29-24 in the semifinal to advance to the final.

SWD, meanwhile, defeated Boland and the Leopards in the Cup quarterfinal and semifinal respectively to book their final berth.

The final was entertaining as Western Province did well to take advantage of the gaps in SWD’s defence thanks to their fantastic support play and raw speed, which they backed up with a solid defensive effort. This earned them four first-half tries to only one by SWD for a 24-7 lead. The second half was tense as the Cape side scored another try, but conceded two shortly after as they were reduced to 14 men for two minutes. But they managed to shut out SWD in the dying minutes to secure the victory.

The semifinal between Western Province and the Limpopo Blue Bulls was also thrilling as the Limpopo side staged a dramatic comeback with two tries in the dying minutes to level the scores at 24-24 at the end of regular time. This forced the match into a sudden-death playoff, and after a few tight exchanges Western Province secured the victory with a stunning try out wide.

SWD, meanwhile, cruised to a 39-0 victory against the Leopards in a one-sided semifinal.

Injured Springbok Sevens captain Kyle Brown, who mingled with the players and gave the teams advice during the two-day tournament, congratulated Western Province on their victory and praised the participating teams for the high quality of rugby delivered. Such was the thrilling nature of the tournament a total of 152 tries were scored on the A field on Tuesday.

“Well done to Western Province, they played a fantastic brand of rugby throughout the competition and they certainly deserved the victory,” said Brown.

Of the tournament, he said: “I was very impressed with the standard of rugby played by the teams and I believe this tournament will play a vital role in boosting the interest in the sport at school level in future.”

SARU u/18 Sevens day-two results:

Bowl quarterfinals:

KwaZulu-Natal 33 – 12 Eastern Province

Namibia 28 – 22 Border

Free State 45 – 17 Griffons

Golden Lions 34 – 27 Griquas

Cup quarterfinals:

Valke 10 – 12 Leopards

SWD 17 – 12 Boland

WP 32-21 Blue Bulls

Pumas 12 – 45 Limpopo Blue Bulls

Shield Semifinals:

Eastern Province 0 – 12 Border

Griffons 19 – 54 Griquas

Bowl Semifinals:

KwaZulu-Natal 17 – 12 Namibia

Free State 34 – 12 Golden Lions

Plate Semifinals:

Valke 7 – 22 Boland

Blue Bulls 31 – 19 Pumas

Cup Semifinals:

Leopards 0 – 39 SWD

WP 29 – 24 Limpopo Blue Bulls

Shield Final:

Border 7 – 40 Griquas

Plate 3^rd/4^th place playoff:

Valke 24 – 19 Pumas

Bowl final:

KwaZulu-Natal 26 – 21 Free State

Plate Final:

Boland 52 – 12 Blue Bulls

Cup 3^rd/4^th place playoff:

Leopards 31 – 14 Limpopo Blue Bulls

Cup Final:

SWD 24 – 31 WP