Six minutes. That’s all that separated the Golden Lions from a Jukskei Derby collapse, and all it took for them to turn it into one of the great Craven Week finishes instead.
The Blue Bulls, missing three players to injury before a ball was even kicked, had no right to make this as hard as they did. For most of Craven Week’s Tuesday afternoon at Grey High School, they didn’t.
Their lineout did the early damage. Two tries built off catch-and-drive set the Bulls up 12-0 inside the first quarter, the kind of start that puts a derby to bed early. The Lions needed an answer, and for a long stretch they didn’t have one.
They found just enough before the break. Flyhalf Jaydon Viljoen split the posts from long range on the stroke of half-time, a penalty that did more than put points on the board — it kept the Lions within five, 15-10, and kept the door open.
What followed after the restart was chaos with a Craven Week rugby scoreboard attached.
” Give schoolboys a five-point gap and forty minutes and anything can happen — this derby proved it twice over. ” – JustPlainJay
The lead swung back and forth through the third quarter as both sides traded scores, neither able to build the cushion the occasion demanded. Then, with the clock past the hour mark, it turned into theatre.
In the 63rd minute the Lions worked their way into the corner and touched down, and Viljoen stepped up for the conversion from the touchline. Nerveless, in it went, and for the first time all afternoon the Lions led, 31-29.
It lasted two minutes. Bulls replacement Ruan Fluks slotted a penalty to snatch it straight back, 32-31, and Grey High School had a genuine classic on its hands.
The Lions didn’t blink. Straight from the restart the Bulls spilled possession, and the Lions pounced on the gift to surge back in front, 36-32. It was a sucker punch delivered in the space of a single phase.
From there the Lions took the game away from the Bulls rather than just holding on. With six minutes left they refused to give the ball back, working the breakdown hard and starving a Bulls side whose legs, and depth, had run out. Centre Ethan Lourens crossed for his second of the Craven Week afternoon, and lock Glodi Tshipamba added the score that finally closed it out, 43-32.
Viljoen was named man of the match, his touchline conversion under pressure the single moment that flipped the contest.
It capped a day of Craven Week carnage across Grey High, with 42 tries scored in the four matches and 10 of those coming in the derby alone. Border cruised past the Valke 36-14, with wing Ncuthu Kepe scoring twice. Griquas outlasted the Pumas 43-29, Tyler Campher grabbing a hat-trick and 22 unanswered second-half points doing the rest. Western Province XV came from behind to beat the Griffons 52-33, Travis Pheiffer contributing 13 points while Cayden Samuels and Yanos Molnar both crossed twice.
FNB U18 Craven Week results — day two (Tuesday, 7 July):
Border 36 (7) Valke 14 (7)
Griquas 43 (21) Pumas 29 (22)
Western Province XV 52 (14) Griffons 33 (23)
Blue Bulls 32 (15) Golden Lions 43 (10)
The tournament continues at Grey High on Wednesday. The Leopards face the Limpopo Blue Bulls at 10h00, Boland meet Eastern Province at 11h45, Free State take on South Western Districts at 13h30, and Western Province close the day against the Sharks in the standout coastal clash at 15h30.
The FNB U18 Girls Week also resumes at Grey High on Wednesday, with the Pumas up against KwaZulu-Natal to open the second round, and WP meeting the Golden Lions in the day’s main fixture at 13h15. Border play the Blue Bulls at 10h45, EP take on Boland at 12h00, while on the second field Griquas face the Leopards at 09h30, the Valke meet Free State at 10h45, Limpopo Blue Bulls play the Griffons at 12h00, and SWD close out against EP XV at 13h15.
Images via SA Rugby
