NELSPRUIT – December 12 - Gauteng North and Central Gauteng were in commanding form on day one of South African Under-19 Inter-Provincial Championship, while Boland and Mpumalanga got off to a blistering start in the B-Section Battle for Promotion at White River Country Club on Monday.

Photo – Gauteng North; credit GNNU.

A-SECTION

Central Gauteng beat Southern Cape 7 – 5 and KwaZulu-Natal 8 – 4 to edge into the lead of the A-Section standings with four points and 20 games points. However, Gauteng North are in close second and chasing hard. Bidding for a third title since 2010, the Daisies bagged convincing 7 – 5 results against Western Province and Ekurhuleni and lag only half a game point behind the pacesetters.

Southern Cape may have bowed out to Central Gauteng, but all is not lost for the defending champions, who eked out a 6.5 – 5.5 result against KwaZulu-Natal for a valuable point on day one. Meanwhile Ekurhuleni also banked a point after beating Western Province 6.5 – 5.5.

Gauteng North was 2-all in the Foursomes against both Western Province and Ekurhuleni, but the young Daisies stepped it up in the Singles.

Dino Capazario, coming off a top seven finish in the Jo’burg Junior Open, whipped Samuel Simpson from Western Province 5 & 3 and took out Nash de Klerk from Ekurhuleni 4 & 2 to set the ball rolling for Gauteng North. Keegan Mclachlan, Kifentse Nukeri and Werner Deyzel reeled in three more points against Western Province and halves from Clifford Thompson and Otto van Buynder secured the two-point win.

Mclachlan, Deyzel, Dawid Opperman and former Tshwane Junior Open champion Otto van Buynder racked up the points against Ekurhuleni to make it two-for-two for the 2010 and 2012 champions on day one.

Central Gauteng set the tone for their triumph against KZN with a 2.5 – 1.5 lead in the Foursomes and Cole Stevens, Reece Haikney, Bryce Leach, Emilio Pera and Keelan van Wyk boosted their points tally in the Singles. Eric Wowor halved against Chris Woollam to guarantee the four-point win.

Southern Cape, however, had the early edge in the Foursomes with a 2.5 – 1.5 lead, but the defending champions couldn’t convert their advantage into victory. Stevens, Haikney, Leach and Pera gained four points in quick succession for Central Gauteng and a win from Van Wyk and another half point from Wowor secured their second victory in the opening round.

The match between Southern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal was stalemate at 5-all, but Carlo Heunis beat Sebastian Terblanche 1-up and Jordan Duminy halved his game against Lisanthan Moodley gain the victory for the defending champions.

Western Province and Ekurhuleni shared the spoils in the foursomes, but Province took first blood in the singles when number one Luca Filippi whipped Dylan Mostert 6 & 5.

That beating was just the trick to get the rest of the Ekurhuleni juniors fired up, though. Reigning Nomads SA Boys U-15 champion Jayden Schaper, Joburg Junior Open runner-up Vaughn van Deventer, Nash de Klerk and Yurav Premlall put in a winning performance and Burt Gildenhuys assured the win when he halved against Ayden Senger.

B-SECTION

Boland smoked Northern Cape to win with 11.5 – 0.5 and whipped North West 8.5 – 3.5 to take the first-round lead in the B-Section standings. However, the host union was equally impressive and matched Boland with four points in round one. Mpumalanga thumped Eastern Province 9.5 – 2.5 and handed Border a 10 – 2 drubbing to slot into second place on the log. The side lag just half a game point behind pacesetters Boland.

North West and Eastern Province didn’t leave the course empty-handed, though. A 10 – 2 result against Border pushed Eastern Province into third in the log, ahead of North West, who defeated Northern Cape 9 – 3.

Boland scored a clean sweep in the foursomes against Northern Cape and Aidon Willemse, Dandre Spies, Herman Loubser, Tyron Davidowitz, Daniel Cronje, Willem Boshoff and Ethan Smith rode the momentum to seven straight wins in the singles. Riaan Rooi added the half point when he squared his game against Remon Rabie.

North West put up a huge fight from the get-go, winning two games in the foursomes and halving another, but the side couldn’t stop the Boland Express when it caught steam in the singles. Boland won seven games on the trot before Joburg Junior Open Slade Pickering denied them a clean sweep by taking the final game against Ethan Smith 3 & 1.

Mpumalanga took command of the foursomes against Border and stretched a 4 – 0 lead to victory with winning performances from DJ Hasselbring, Banele Mavuso, Jacques Brits, Ian Jacobs, Jacques du Preez and Ruan Groenewald.

The host union took a 3 – 1 lead in their foursomes against Eastern Province. Hasselbring, Mavuso, Jacobs, du Preez, Brandon Geere and Groenewald handed out the punishment and Jacques Brits halved with Andrew Jeffrey to seal the seven-point victory.

A-SECTION – First Round Results
Western Province 5 vs Gauteng North 7
Ekurhuleni 5 vs Gauteng North 7
KwaZulu-Natal 4 vs Central Gauteng 8
Southern Cape 5 vs Central Gauteng 7
Southern Cape 6.5 vs KwaZulu-Natal 5.5Ekurhuleni 6.5 vs Western Province 5.5

A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Central Gauteng (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 15)
2 Gauteng North (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 14)
T3 Southern Cape (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 11.5)
T3 Ekurhuleni (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 11.5)
5 Western Province (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 10.5)
6 KwaZulu-Natal (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 9.5)
Free State – First Round Bye

B-SECTION – First Round Results
Boland 11.5 vs Northern Cape 0.5
Northern Cape 3 vs North West 9
Boland 8.5 vs North West 3.5
Border 2 vs Mpumalanga 10
Mpumalanga 9.5 vs Eastern Province 2.5
Border 2 vs Eastern Province 10

B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Boland (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 20)
2 Mpumalanga (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 19.5)
T3 North West (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 12.5)
T3 Eastern Province (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 12.5)
5 Border (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 4)
6 Northern Cape (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 3.5)
Limpopo – First Round Bye

Written and released by: Lali Stander / The Write Word Sports Media Consultants
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