Pukke, Hamiltons lay down marker at SAA National Club Champs

Defending champions NWU-Pukke and Western Province’s Hamiltons laid down an early marker on the opening day of the 35th SAA National Club Champs at the LC de Villiers stadium on the University of Pretoria sport campus on Sunday.

Pukke beat Limpopo side Noordelikes 87-12 while Hammies almost matched them point for point with an 83-19 win over Griquas champions Kuruman.

Pirates, of the Golden Lions – the last open club to win the tournament in 2001 – also got off to an excellent start with a 66-3 victory over Mpumalanga champions Middelburg.

The two sides from the Eastern Cape sides provided the big upsets of the day. Eastern Province’s Park shocked Free State’s Shimlas 27-26 – which leaves Pukke as the only student team left in the race for the title – while Border’s Buffalo beat Pretoria Police 45-19 in the main match of the afternoon.

There were also first-round wins for Springs, College Rovers and Rawsonville. The results make for an intriguing quarterfinal line-up on Tuesday, with Hamiltons v Pirates the pick of the matches.

Day 1 results:

Springs 37 Welkom Rovers 14
Hamiltons 83 Kuruman 19
Pukke 87 Noordelikes 12
Pretoria Police 19 Buffalo 45
Park (21) 27 Shimlas (19) 26
Pirates (40) 66 Middelburg (3) 3
Rawsonville (7) 25 Great Brakiver (16) 21

College Rovers 33 Impala 25

Last year’s beaten finalists College Rovers of KZN got their campaign underway with a 33-25 (halftime 15-3) win over Leopards invitees Impala of Rustenburg.

Rovers raced to a 23-8 lead but Impala, led by evergreen Jaco Gouws, proved a handful at scrum time and the men from Rustenburg staged a mini-fightback when they scored two tries early in the second half to cut the deficit to 10 points.

But Sharks flyer Chris Jordaan then kicked a massive drop goal to go with his earlier try to make it 26-13.

Impala scored their third try midway through the half to give their supporters some hope, but Rovers scored a soft intercept try through right wing Wesley Bodmer to kill off the match.

Scorers:
College Rovers 33 – Tries: Chris Jordaan, Anton Verster (2), Wesley Bodmer. Conversion: Dauw Steyn, Stuart Hudson. Penalties: Steyn (2). Drop goal: Jordaan.
Impala 25 – Tries: Robbie Visser, Herchell Roman, Morné Basson, Louis Hollenby. Penalty: Morné Jonker. Conversion: Jonker.

Fixtures for Tuesday 22 September:

Premier quarter-finals:
Pukke v Rawsonville
College Rovers v Park
Hamiltons v Pirates
Springs v Buffalo

Plate quarter-finals:
Noordelikes v Great Brakriver
Impala v Shimlas
Kuruman v Middelburg
Welkom Rovers v Pta Police

Issued by SA Rugby