THE second round of the SuperSport Rugby Challenge produced an astounding amount of hat-tricks with no fewer than five players dotting down three times for their respective teams during six matches on Saturday.
The iCollege Pumas, Tafel Lager Griquas and DHL Western Province all cemented their places at the summit of their respective sections as all three teams secured two wins from two starts.
The Hino Valke, Toyota Free State XV, Boland Cavaliers and SWD Eagles all remain unbeaten, albeit after having played just a single game.
BULLS GORE WELWITSCHIAS
In Pretoria, the Vodacom Blue Bulls ran the Windhoek Draught Welwitschias ragged with a resounding 73-20 (halftime 26-13) hammering to get their campaign back to winning ways.
The home side, who had lost to the Pumas a week ago, ran in 11 tries, nine of which were converted while the visitors could manage just two tries of their own along with two penalties.
The Blue Bulls secured their bonus-point before the halftime whistle while fullback Earll Douwrie was on song with his boot, landing nine conversions while the Welwitschias’ flyhalf, Pieter Steenkamp, added two conversions and two penalties to his name.
EAGLES SOAR TO VICTORY
The SWD Eagles began their campaign with a solid 34-20 (halftime 14-8) victory over the EP Elephants in Port Elizabeth earlier in the day, condemning the Eastern Cape union to their second-consecutive defeat.
The Elephants began the afternoon the stronger of the two sides, opening up an eight-point advantage before the Eagles turned the tables to go into the break 14-8 to the good.
The match remained close with the Elephants leading 20-19 heading into the final quarter of the game but utility back Tyler Fisher scored his first try to hand the lead back to the visitors.
The Eagles then closed off the game in the dying moments when Fisher scored his second try, to add to the tries from left wing Marlo Weich, fullback Leighton Eksteen, who also landed a conversion, and hooker Jacques Vermaak to seal the bonus-point while flyhalf Divan Nel added two conversions and a long-range penalty.
EP failed to gain any log points from the match with scrumhalf Rowan Gouws, hooker Allandre van Rooyen and replacement prop Dewald Barnard crossing the whitewash with flyhalf Henrique Olivier kicking a penalty and conversion.
GRIQUAS SKIN LEOPARDS
In Kimberley, the Tafel Lager Griquas ran riot with an 80-14 (halftime 42-7) slaughter of the Leopards with Sias Koen and Enver Brandt bagging themselves a hat-trick of tries.
The home side ran in no less than 12 tries against the two from the visitors.
Flanker Koen and left wing Brandt were assisted by flyhalf Andre Swarts and Number 8 Conway Pretorius, who each scored twice while hooker AJ le Roux and replacement utility back Tythan Adams also added five-pointers to the scoresheet.
Swarts had a wonderful afternoon in the pivot position, contributing nine conversions for a personal points tally of 28.
Griquas presented an almost flawless display of rugby and secured their bonus-point before the first half was completed and then utilised the final 10 minutes of the game to run in a further three tries to cement their place at the top of the Central section while condemning the Leopards to yet another defeat, including conceding a massive 127 points to date.
WP MUZZLE BULLDOGS
DHL Western Province maintained their impeccable unbeaten record in the competition with a 36-5 (halftime 19-5) victory over the Border Bulldogs in East London with the visitors yet to taste defeat since the competition began in 2017.
Both sides had a player sent to the sin-bin in the first half but it was Province who ended the first stanza the stronger of the two side, having scored three of their six tries for a 14-point advantage.
Border’s only points of the game came in the 23rd minute through a penalty try which resulted in flanker Jaco Coetzee being shown a yellow card.
Province’s first half tries all came through right wing Rowen Saal, who sealed his hat-trick on the stroke of halftime.
Inside centre Joshua Stander scored two tries in the second period before flanker Johannes du Toit rounded off a successful afternoon for the defending champions five minutes before the final whistle.
Stander had a mixed day with the boot, converting just three of the tries while missing the conversions of both his own scores.
In Johannesburg, the iCollege Pumas made it two wins from two with a bonus-point 35-26 (halftime 17-12) victory over the Xerox Golden Lions with the boot of fly half Chris Smith being the difference between the sides.
It was a tightly contested North Section encounter with both sides picking up a bonus-point for scoring four tries but Smith landed three penalties along with his three conversions to give the visitors the nine-point victory at the Wits Rugby Stadium.
The Lions scored four tries through hooker Corne Fourie, lock Rhyno Herbst, fullback Siyabonga Masuku and flyhalf Shaun Reynolds, who also slotted three conversions.
