Eastern Province U21 coach Shaun Oliver commended his players for showing grit in their 41-12 victory over their Border counterparts in their SA Rugby Shield clash at Mdantsane’s Sisa Dukashe stadium in KuGompo City on Saturday.
EP trailed from a quick try and conversion by Siyamthanda Sakhela less than 10 min after Border came out of the blocks and camped in the opposition half.
But EP weathered the storm and gradually assumed control of the game as they used their height advantage by kicking for touch, where they dominated the lineouts.
Then Lyle Mentjies took control, though he first missed a penalty from a favourable spot.
By the quarter hour, EP had already drawn level after Aiden Els try with Mentjies making amends with the boot.
Mentjies then grabbed the first of his two tries as Border appeared disjointed with ball-handling mistakes, while EP was in complete control with another Mentjies try and conversion sandwiching a penalty to take a 24-7 lead to the break.
EP tightened the grip after the break, dotting down through Cole Hilpert two minutes to the restart.
By this time Border was falling apart amid a litany of errors as lack of cohesion was ruthlessly exposed.
Zander Wiltshire hammered another nail five minutes to full time, but Mentjies missed while Oyama Kuse led a mini revival by the hosts when he crossed the try line two minutes later.
But Luyanda Tshaka dashed Border’s hopes of a rival when he scored a converted try on regulation time.
Oliver attributed his players’ fighting spirit to the camaraderie they have built over a long period.
“We have had time to gel as a team and the fact that we still have some of our players from last season,” he said.
Border coach Onke Dubase attributed the loss to elementary mistakes such as ball handling, which led to plenty of knocks.
“You could see that our team lacked cohesion and rhythm, but as time goes on, we will be compact.
“We still have three games left to play, and by the time we play our next game we will gel and become more disciplined because that was our downfall as well.”
Dubase also highlighted poor conditioning as his players appeared fatigued, a shortcoming which blighted their big brothers, Border Bulldogs, in their SA Cup and Carling Currie Cup First Division campaign.
“We started the match well but gradually ran out of gas, and we needed to work on that,” he said.
At the same venue, WSU All Blacks celebrated their Super League title in style when they beat FB United 34-17 before they were officially handed the trophy.
The match between Swallows and Fort Hare Blues was called off.
In the Premier League, Rising Stars beat United Brothers 32-17 while Ntlaza Lions triumphed 11-5 over Ngculu Zebras.