The Vodacom Blue Bulls powered their way to the top of the Absa Under-21 provincial championship with a 34-19 win over KZN on Saturday. The visitors raced to a 27-3 lead at the break in Durban and never allowed the Natal side back into the match.
In East London, the MTN Golden Lions secured their first win of the tournament by beating Border Bulldogs 22-13, while in Bloemfontein DHL Western Province had to thank the boot of Timothy Swiel to thank as they beat Toyota Free State 36-31, despite being outscored four tries to three.
Swiel kick five penalties and three conversions in a match where the visitors never trailed.
They were up 13-9 at half time and shortly after that 20-9 as Devon Williams scored his second of the afternoon.
The home side were forced to play catch-up from there on in as Swiel kicked three more penalties and converted a 70th minute try by Gerbrandt Grobler. The Free State did score four times in the second half, but only kicked one conversion, something that could have made all the difference at the end.
The Golden Lions had a 10-5 lead at the break in the Buffalo City Stadium on Friday and managed to hold out the Bulldogs comeback effort.
A try by Rynardt van Wyk levelled scores, but Dale Sabbagh missed the conversion for the home side.
Robert de Bruyn scored for the Golden Lions and when Border’s Quinton Norris was yellow carded, Jako Viljoen raced through for the final score of the match.
The best performance of the weekend was in Durban however, where the Blue Bulls were rampant against the previously undefeated Natal side.
Travis Ismaiel scored a brace and Courtnall Skosan ran well for his try as the visitors out-skilled and outpaced the KZN side. They did manage to come back in the second half, mainly thanks to the boot of Fred Zeilinga and a try by Piet Lindeque, but after Christopher Bosch scored with ten minutes to go to secure the bonus point for the Blue Bulls, it was all over.