Acer Durban Collegians got their newly formed Central Provinces Club Rugby competition off on the best possible note by winning both their opening round matches in fine style on the weekend, accounting for Bloemfontein Crusaders 65-3 last Friday evening and then following up with another convincing performance on Sunday, comfortably beating CUT Bloemfontein 43-14.

Wing Kyle Hartley was the star of the show for Collegians scoring three tries in his side's blazing opener against the Crusaders side from the Free State.

Local champions House of Paint College Rovers fielding a severly-weakened side were soundly beaten 33-10 by Old Greys from Bloemfontein last Friday night but put up a far better performance in beating Welkom Club 50-17 on Sunday.

Envirosan Old Boys narrowly lost their opener 23-14 to CUT Bloemfontein with their tries coming from centre Ian Adendorff and flanker Damon Wilson while on Sunday Adendorff was back on the scoreboard again in his side's 39-3 victory march over Old Greys with Wesley Dunlop, Brian Shibanga, Dean Stow, Jaco Otto and Andrew Rhies also contributing to the winning score.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad weekend for the new club competition and one can only hope that the experiment succeeds for the club game, which of course could well mean a new innovative concept of strengthening the game at grass roots for so long considered the very heartbeat of the game in this country. This surely should be a positive move forward in bridging the gap between schools, clubs and the professional arm of the sport.

The Durban clubs will travel to Bloemfontein and Welkom this coming weekend with Durban Collegians looking like strong candidates for a berth in the final on Saturday 5 September. They will meet their hosts Welkom Club on Friday evening and then travel to Bloemfontein to meet Old Grey on Sunday.

Rovers will be hosted by CUT Bloemfontein on Friday and will then meet Bloemfontein Crusaders on Sunday while Old Boys face Crusaders on Friday evening before travelling to Welkom on Sunday to play Welkom Club.

- Jos Robson - The Mercury