KZN to face SWD in Paarl finale

Western Province defeated the Blue Bulls 20-13 in their opening match and supported this with an emphatic 65–5 victory against the Griffons on Wednesday, while Eastern Province beat SWD 41-31 and KwaZulu-Natal 23-22 respectively.

In the other big match-up on Saturday the KwaZulu-Natal team will face SWD.

The final round will be played on four fields due to the rain expected in Cape Town, with Eastern Province CD and Griquas going head-to-head and Zimbabwe meeting Namibia in the traditional Test match to kick-start the day’s play at 09h00.

The final match will be played at 15h00 on the main field.

In Thursday’s matches Eastern Province, who came out tops in last year’s tournament, registered a nail-biting 23-22 victory against KwaZulu-Natal in a gripping clash, in which two players received red cards.

The Valke, meanwhile, showed fantastic flair on attack in a strong second-half showing to outplay Griquas 34-21, which marked their second victory of the tournament.

In the other matches SWD defeated the Golden Lions 28-19, while Eastern Province CD thrashed Zimbabwe 51-20 and the Leopards pipped Griquas CD 18-17.

The teams will have Friday off to recover from the physical rugby in the last few days.

Eastern Province 23 (10) KwaZulu-Natal 22 (3)

The clash between Eastern Province and KwaZulu-Natal was hard-fought as the teams threw everything at one another on attack and defence, which resulted in the clash resembling the intensity of a Test match. This despite the fact that the Durban side were dealt a big blow in the 31st minute as they were reduced to 14 men due to a red card for a dangerous tackle. KwaZulu-Natal opened up the scoring in the 16th minute with a penalty by Bader Pretorius to take a 3-0 lead. A yellow card for the Durban side in the 23rd minute, however, paved the way for Eastern Province to score the first try of the match to push them into a 7-3 lead. KwaZulu-Natal, however, were dealt another blow as a red card for a dangerous tackle reduced them to 13 players briefly. In-form Eastern Province flyhalf Curwin Bosch pushed the team into a 10-3 lead shortly before the break thanks to well-timed drop goal. They added their second try of the match in the 37th minute compliments of Heino Bezuidenhout, which Bosch backed up with another drop goal to stretch their lead. The Durban side, however, fought back with intent with Marco Palvie scoring a try, and Bader Pretorius adding another shortly after Eastern Province were reduced to 14 players, which reduced the deficit on the scoreboard to 17-15. Two long-distance penalties by Bosch, however, pushed his team 23-15 ahead. Eastern Province, however, were again reduced to 14 men in the 73rd minute after a second yellow-card offence, which KwaZulu-Natal capitalised on to score a try on the stroke of fulltime. Unfortunately the conversion still left them one point short on the scoreboard at 23-22.

Scorers:

Eastern Province – Tries: Khewzi Mafu, Heino Bezuidenhout. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (2). Penalties: Curwin Bosch (2). Drop Goal: Curwin Bosch.

KwaZulu-Natal – Tries: Bader Pretorius, Marco Palvie (2). Conversions: Bader Pretorius (2). Penalty: Bader Pretorius.

(File Photo: Gallo Images)

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