Acer Durban Collegians finished their 2009 rugby season in style after beating Old Grey from Bloemfontein 27-22 in the final of the inaugral Central Provinces Club Rugby tournament on their home grounds on Saturday afternoon. Collegians can't be blamed for being all smiles claiming some silverware as the final curtain came down on this year's KZNRU Club Rugby season.

Collegians flanker Danie Crous who played for the Blue Bulls Vodacom Cup side earlier this year was the toast of the team, scoring all three tries for the victors and rightfully being awarded the man of the match at the end of the gruelling but entertaining encounter. Flyhalf Jacques Venter kicked the balance of the points for the winners.

Overall, the newly formed competition has been an enormous success in so many ways especially for the players who have had the opportunity to test their skills against teams that they don't normally play against and one can only hope that this tournament grows from here as it has given them a lot more incentives to stay in the game and more importantly to stay loyal to their clubs. With a little bit of fine-tuning, this tournament will surely become an intergral part of the club season and who knows, it could also be taken to the second division clubs?

The 2009 season as a whole belonged to House of Paint College Rovers who won all but two of the local competitions that they played in and they will now join their Rovers cricketing counterparts in Pretoria on the 19 September at the National Club Championships. One thing is for certain, the boys will be playing in honour of the late Hylton Ackerman who represented Rovers whilst spending time in KZN playing alongside the likes of Mike Procter (now the Honourary President of the cricket section) and the late Roy McLean in the sixties.

His son HD will be part of the Rovers cricket squad in Pretoria and we wish the sides well as they both prepare to travel to Pretoria to represent their province at their respective sporting codes at the annual club championships.

- Jos Robson - The Mercury