DURBAN (9 April 2014) – Gauteng North kept their title defence on track with a third successive victory at the South African U-23 Inter-Provincial Championship, while KwaZulu-Natal kept control of the promotion battle at Royal Durban Country Club on Wednesday.
A-SECTION
Gauteng North and Limpopo tied the foursomes 2-all, but once the singles got underway, the defending champions immediately applied pressure with four straight victories.
Marco Loubser and Adriel Poonan won both their matches 2-up, Christoff Els beat Franco van Zyl 6 & 4 and Augustino Khosa defeated Cameron Nesmith 3 & 2 to push Gauteng North 6 – 2 ahead.
Stefan de Beer and Hennie du Plessis gained two points for Limpopo, but Rosswell Sinclair and
James du Preez delivered the final blows to hand Gauteng North an 8 – 4 victory.
The defending champions top the log with six points, and is one point ahead of Ekurhuleni.
Earning just one point in the third round for a 6-all draw against the Western Province, Ekurhuleni slipped to second in the log and one point clear of Province.
Central Gauteng hung on to fourth after defeating North West Province 8 – 4.
B-SECTION
Local heroes KwaZulu-Natal protected their lead in the battle for promotion and kept their winning streak going for a third successive day with a 10 – 2 victory against Mpumalana.
The coastal side scored a clean sweep in the foursomes and proved unstoppable in the singles.
Ruben Coetzer won 5 & 3, Matt Saulez and Malcolm Mitchell both triumphed won 2 & 1, Clayton Mansfield claimed a 5 & 4 result and Leorin Pillay beat Banele Mavuso at the final hole to add five points to the team tally.
Keagan Thomas and Gregory Mckay halved their games to give KZN a runaway victory.
The coastal side lead the log on six points, while Boland moved into second on four points and Southern Cape replaced Eastern Province at third.
Boland handed Free State an 8 – 4 drubbing, while Southern Cape defeated Eastern Province by the same margin.
Boland and Southern Cape both have four points, but at the halfway stage of the team championship, the Garden Route side lag two game points behind Boland.
A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Gauteng North (3, 3, 0, 0, 6, 25.0)
2 Ekurhuleni (3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 21.5)
3 Western Province (3, 1, 2, 0, 4, 18.5)
4 Central Gauteng (3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 18.5)
5 Limpopo (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 13.0)
6 North West Province (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 11.5)
B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 KwaZulu-Natal (3, 3, 0, 0, 6, 27.5)
2 Boland (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 21.5)
3 Southern Cape (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 19.5)
4 Eastern Province (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 17.0)
5 Free State (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 14.0)
6 Mpumalanga (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 8.5)