More disappointment for EP at U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week

DHL Western Province, Boland and SWD were the big scorers on Tuesday, in day two of the U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week at Hoërskool Rob Ferreira in White River as they stay in contention for a place in Friday's final match.

Unfortunatly things went pear-shape for the boys from Port Elizabeth as Eastern Province failed to pull off a win, after leading 10 - 3 at half-time in their second match against the Leopards.

The first half was tight as both teams tried hard to gain dominance. Eastern Province, however, built up a nice 10 - 3 lead thanks to a converted try and a penalty, while they limited the Leopards to a single penalty in the half.

The Leopards, however, fought back strongly after the break scoring three tries. The last try was three minutes from the final whistle to give them a one point lead. Eastern Province only managed to score one converted try, which left them with a disappointing 18 - 17 defeat.

Scorers:

Eastern Province (10) 17 – Tries: Sino Antonie, Siviwe Zondani. Conversions: Lathita Nqebe (2). Penalty: Lathita Nqebe.

Leopards (3) 18 – Tries: Theuns Steyn, Armand Cloete (2). Penalty: Theuns Steyn.

U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week day-two results:

Border 0 – 33 DHL Western Province

KwaZulu-Natal 7 – 34 Boland

Eastern Province 17 – 18 Leopards

Bidvest Golden Lions 13 – 37 SWD

Border CD 19 – 14 Pumas

TW Profile Services Valke 21 – 19 Itec Blue Bulls

Free State 5 – 33 Limpopo Blue Bulls

Griffons 37 – 13 Namibia

Griquas 15 – 7 Zimbabwe

Lions beat EP in U13 Craven Week opener

Eastern Province faced Bidvest Golden Lions in their opener of this year's U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week at Hoërskool Rob Ferreira in White River. 

The Golden Lions started their clash against Eastern Province with a bang as Regardt Fourie crossed the tryline in the second minute to take a 5-0 lead. But Eastern Province did well to string together phases on attack and hit back with a try of their own in the 18th minute compliments of Lathita Nqebe. The Lions, however, cancelled this out with their second try before half time to take a 10-5 lead at the break.

The second half was hard-fought as the teams ran hard at each other. Such was the closeness of the half the Lions were only able to add a penalty to their score, while Eastern Province's Nqebe crossed the tryline for the second time, which allowed them to come within a point of the Lions on the scoreboard. The Johannesburg team, however, held on in the dying minutes to secure a 13-12 victory.

Eastern Province's second match will be on Tuesday (30 June) against the Leopards. The Leopards went down to Boland in their opener,15 - 20.

Scorers:

Eastern Province (5) 12 – Tries: Lathita Nqebe (2). Conversion: Daniel Smith.

Golden Lions (10) 13 – Tries: Denis Balt, Regardt Fourie. Penalty: Sebastine Watney.

U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week day-one results:

Pumas 21 - 7 KwaZulu-Natal

Western Province 24 - 19 Valke

Limpopo Blue Bulls 7 - 29 Border

Boland 20 - 15 Leopards

Blue Bulls 40 - 0 Zimbabwe

Eastern Province 12 - 13 Golden Lions

Griquas 7 - 12 Namibia

Free State 0 - 19 SWD

Griffons 16 - 22 Border CD

U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week day-two fixtures, Tuesday 30 June 2015:

A Field:

08h30 - Griffons vs Namibia                            

09h30 - Valke vs Blue Bulls                               

10h30 - Golden Lions vs SWD                          

11h30 - KZN vs Boland                                      

12h30 - Border vs WP

B Field:

08h30 - Griquas vs Zimbabwe

09h30 - Free State vs Limpopo Blue Bulls

10h30 - Border CD vs Pumas

Exciting additions to Currie Cup squad

The Eastern Province Kings have announced two exciting additions to their squad for the 2015 Currie Cup season.

Robust loose forward, Jacques Engelbrecht will make a welcomed return to the Kings squad. Engelbrecht who is currently contracted to the Bulls until 2016 will be on loan to the Kings for the next four months.

Engelbrecht who is no stranger to the Kings set-up joined in 2011 from the Eagles, and made 24 appearances in the EP jersey over two seasons. In 2013 Engelbrecht formed a formidable loose-trio along side Wimpie van der Walt and Cornell du Preez for the Southern Kings in their first Super Rugby season.

After the Southern Kings failed to retain their spot for the 2014 Super Rugby season, Engelbrecht formed part of a max exodus of players and joined the Blue Bulls.    

"Jacques was a familiar face in our ranks, both for the EP Kings and the Southern Kings, and we are looking forward to having him back for our Currie Cup campaign."  

“We believe he will add a great deal to our squad during this important time for rugby in the province,” said EP Rugby CEO Charl Crous.

The Kings also confirmed the signing of Griquas and Cheetahs thighthead prop Maks van Dyk until the end of the 2016 season. Van Dyk also had a short spell with Irish club Leinster where he made one appearance in 2014 during the off-season.

"We welcomed Jacques and Maks into the Kings family earlier today (Wednesday) at our player and management workshop.” 

"We look forward to working with them going forward and getting to know them better," said newly appointed Kings head coach Brent Janse van Rensburg.

The Kings have started with their pre-Currie Cup training, and will have their first outing against the Sharks on the 11th of July, followed by the Bulls on the 17th and Western Province on the 25th, ahead of their ABSA Currie Cup opener against the Golden Lions on the 8th of August.

EP Kings appoint new Currie Cup coach

The Eastern Province Kings have announced that former NMMU Madibaz coach, Brent Janse van Rensburg, has been appointed as head coach for the EP Kings Currie Cup campaign.

“Brent is a top calibre coach, having earned his stripes in the school system and at the NMMU Madibaz, and we are confident that he will play a significant role in our preparations going forward,” said EP Kings CEO Charl Crous.

"He is familiar with operations at the Kings and we are sure he will be able to bring the best out in the team for the Currie Cup campaign."

Janse van Rensburg will be assisted by Carlos Spencer (backline and skills coach), Darron Nell (lineout and forwards coach) and CJ van der Linde, who is still playing but will assist in the scrummaging department.

Janse van Rensburg who took over as head coach at NMMU in 2011 took the Madibaz to two consecutive Varsity Cup semi-finals in 2013 and 2014 before he joined Grey High School as Director of Rugby. 

Earlier this year he joined the Lions as the u19 forwards coach before he was released from his contract due to personal reasons. He returned to Nelson Mandela Bay where he subsequently joined the Kings as Head of Defence during their Vodacom Cup campaign.

Janse van Rensburg will take up his new position with immediate effect, as the Kings are currently preparing for their Currie Cup friendlies against the Sharks, Bulls and Western Province ahead of their opener against the Lions on the 8th of August.

Kings player included in Sevens Academy side

EP Kings fullback Siviwe Soyizwapi has been included in the SARU Sevens Academy squad to travel to an invitational Sevens tournament in Italy and Switzerland later this year. 

The team was selected after a round of gruelling trials in Stellenbosch and, according to the coach, the trials again showed the high quality of players in the South African structures.

"The trials highlighted the skills and abilities of the next tier of players. These guys are all showing massive potential to graduate into the national team and some of them will even push for places in the Olympic Games in Rio next year," Schoeman said.

Included in this squad are regular Springbok Sevens squad members, Ruhan Nel and Carel du Preez. Du Preez and Nel both made their Springbok Sevens debut during the recent 2014/15 HSBC Sevens World Series after being called up for national duty from the Academy ranks.

"We have had an eye on certain players for a while now, and it is pleasing that they were available for selection. I would like to thank the various unions who allowed them to train and now play with us. I think the Academy pathway has worked for our national team as well, as guys like Ruhan and Carel clearly showed this year, as well as others like Kwagga Smith and Werner Kok before them."

The Roma tournament will be played on 12 and 13 June at the Acqua Acetosa Stadium. The South Africans won the tournament in 2013 and 2014.

The team then will travel to Switzerland, where the Geneva Sevens will be contested at the Centre Sportif du Bout du Monde on 19-20 June.

SARU Sevens Academy:

1 Carel du Preez

2 Ruhan Nel

3 Sandile Ngcobo 

4 Lungelo Gosa

5 Sibahle Maxwane

6 Vincent Maruping

7 Dylan Sage

8 TJ Goddard

9 Tyler Fisher

10 Siviwe Soyizwapi

11 Riaan Esterhuizen

12 Daniel Maartens

Non traveling reserves:

Thabo Mabuza, Joel Booysen.