The Bulls Daisies and Sanlam Boland Dames have moved clear of the chasing pack in the Women’s Premier Division on Saturday, courtesy of big victories in the fourth round, while DHL Western Province and the Free State Women also secured first away wins as the competition moved past the halfway stage.
The Bulls Daises remain undefeated and showed why they are the only team yet to taste defeat this season as they dismantled the Sharks Women 69-5 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. They have now scored 278 points in four matches, conceding only 32 in the process.
The Dames settled into second place on the log and rebounded well after being beaten by the Daisies last weekend by outplaying the Border Ladies in East London. The Bolanders delivered an all-round effort in their 48-13 win and for once, the Eastern Cape side were totally outplayed at home.
Given the Vodacom United Rugby Championship result earlier in the day at Emirates Airline Park, DHL Western Province recovered some pride for Cape Town by beating the Golden Lions Women 43-25. The hosts recovered well from the first half onslaught by their visitors, but their comeback effort fell short, and they are still looking for a first win for the season.
The Free State Women outplayed their hosts, EP Queens, 17-14 at Cilliѐ High School in Gqeberha and by doing so, got their first away win of the season. It was a tight match with a late try sealing the fate of the Queens, the other side yet to register a win, while the Free Staters moved into the top four on the log.
The Daisies scored 11 unanswered tries before a late charge by the Sharks pack rewarded them with a maul try near the end of the game. It was almost a point a minute for the home side in the first half and their 38-0 lead at the break was good value for their effort.
Wings Patience Makone (4) and Ayanda Malinga (2) scored six of those, benefitting from countless overlaps created by the free-flowing attack by the Daisies. Malinga’s counter attacking prowess also created some nice tries for her teammates.
The Sharks had their moments in this match, played in wet conditions, but apart from the last 10 minutes of the match, they failed to deal with the pace and power of the home side.
The Sanlam Boland Dames hot back in dramatic fashion, scoring eight tries in East London and delivering an all-round performance of note. Border scored first through an early penalty goal, before the visitors cut loose to score five tries, two of those by centre Veroeshka Grain.
The Dames scored three more in the second half, but credit to the home side, who managed two tries themselves as they offered some kind of comeback to the Baysville High School faithful.
DHL Western Province held on to beat a fast-finishing Golden Lions Women at Emirates Airline Park, with a strong first half effort paving the way for an important win, as it moved them to third on the log.
The visitors scored five tries in the opening half, but could only add two more in the second spell, with the Lions fighting back to dot down three times. Unfortunately for the hosts, their goal-kicking was not up to scratch and they could not convert any of their five tries.
The WP pack’s pick and drive efforts were too much for the Lions in the first half and they scored four tries on the back of that. The home side regrouped nicely in the second spell and although they scored three tries, they left it too late to secure a first win.
The EP Queens came desperately close to secure their first win of the season, but a well-worked try 15 minutes from time by Free State Women wing Faith Gosling was enough to see the Bloemfontein side home. It was a tussle throughout, with the visitors scoring two tries to one in the first half for a 12-7 lead.
The home side took a 14-12 lead after an hour of play when Olwethi Kasibe went over for a converted try, but the Free State backline showed their skill in working Gosling over the line to secure the win.
Scorers:
EP Queens 14 (7), Free State Women 17 (12)
EP – Tries: Anacadia Minnaar, Olwethu Kasibe. Conversions: Yandisa Nobanda (2).
Free State – Tries: Faith Gosling, Mekyla Bennett, Charlize Jacobs. Conversion: Thamie Yeko.
Golden Lions Women 25 (10), DHL Western Province 43 (31)
Lions – Tries: Ratidzo Gurajena, Sinalo Honono, Thobile Msizazwe (2), Erica Ekeji.
WP – Tries: Roseline Botes, Thandile Mazwi, Anushka Groenewald, Anelisiwe Mxabo, Bronishia Hess (2), Donëy Filies. Conversions: Kirsten Conrad (3), Elme Kruger.
Border Ladies 13 (3), Sanlam Boland Dames 48 (36)
Border – Tries: Owethu Nayiphi, Sindisiwe Mbonja. Penalty goal: Sinaye Mbolompo.
Boland – Tries: Veroeshka Grain (2), Amanda Klassen, Aseza Hele (2), Yola Lumko, Ropha Madyah, Macaela Samboya. Conversions: Lara Schats (4).
Bulls Daisies 69 (38), Sharks Women 5 (0)
Bulls – Tries: Zintle Mpupha, Ayanda Malinga (2), Patience Mokone (4), Libbie Janse van Rensburg (2), Micke Gunter (2). Conversions: Jakkie Cilliers (7).
Sharks – Try: Nomonde Mbwanja.
pink stream
None Knows What Happened to Hansie Cronje: People who have been following South African sports for a long time must know that Hansie Cronje was behind match-fixing in 2000. Soon after the dark secret got revealed, he died in a plane crash in 2002. Many experts say it was a planned murder by the criminals behind the scandal. But due to lack of evidence, none can prove the actual cause of death, and it still lingers in the history of South African sports as one of the biggest mysteries.
Scuffs
Although there are 31 countries that play cricket in the international stage, only 12 have qualified for Test status. The first countries to acquire this status are England and Australia (1877) and the latest is Afghanistan (2018).