SA U21 Hockey sides battle for supremacy in Pretoria
IPT2022 | Opening day heroics for the SA U21 sides in Pretoria
It's been a little under 12 months since the SA Women’s Inter-Provincial tournament took place in Cape Town last year. In the time since, the national women’s head coach has changed, the team went to the FIH Hockey World Cup and the Commonwealth Games and are now preparing for the FIH Nations Cup in Spain later this year. For the Men though its been three years since the teams battled for glory in Bloemfontein. In that edition Western Province was victorious over Southern Gauteng with a penalty shootout win that would see them hold the title for three years. A lot of water has passed under the bridge for the South African Hockey Men in the past three years and many young players would be excited for the opportunity to get themselves into Garreth Ewing’s thinking.
With much anticipation, the tournament began across three venues in Pretoria with Tswhane University of Technology playing premier host. Although for the men the tournament started at Eldoraigne where the 2018 and 19 runners up Southern Gauteng dismissed the challenge of their “B” side SG Wits netting six goals through six different goal scorers. They were joined in the big win circle by Western Province who took longer than they would have liked to put the Free State challenge to bed. Peter Jarvis, a former SA U21 star, netted a hat-trick to put himself of the scorers list on day 1.
TUT’s first taste of the Men’s A Section was a game that put itself on the shelf as a potential game of the tournament. SA U21 under the guidance of Guy Elliott for the first time at a tournament. They took on the 2018 champions KZN Raiders. It was the previous winners who struck first through Kewan Harries but found themselves 2-1 down at the break with Cameron le Forrestier and Hans Neethling doing the damage. The Raiders fought back and regained the lead themselves with Taylor Kelly-Stack first and later Mbuso Mgobozi turning the game on its head. But it was Calvin Davis who wrote the final story of the game securing a sensational draw in a match that will be remembered for a long time.
The hosts Northern Blues were meticulous and consistent in their approach scoring a goal in each quarter to seal a 4-1 victory over Eastern Province to take a maximum three points.
In the Women’s A Section Kayla de Waal starred in the opening game as Western Province netted five first half goals against Eastern Province, before taking the foot off the pedal in the second half and allowing a late consolation goal for EP in a 5-2 win. At the other end of the day a star studded Northern Blues side saw Tegan Fourie pulling the strings as they ran out comfortable and unchallenged 7-0 winners against Free State.
Southern Gauteng were strongly expected to emerge the winners in their encounter against Wits but despite taking the lead through Lisa Hawker, the defending champions were unable to see it through and Bonolo Moabi netted an equaliser that made the group instantly more interesting.
The KZN Raiders were looking to bring back the high of 2017 when they won the tournament at the Randburg Astro, but their early ambitions faced an early shock as they were defeated by the SA U21 side. Certain Fourie and Ntsopa Mokoena opened the scoring for Lenise Marais side before the Raiders worked their way back through legendary Shelley Jones. As they sought an equaliser they were rocked again by a Laiken Brissett finish that ultimately would be enough despite a late Raiders goal by Jessica Lardant.
In the women’s B Section North West, Mpumlanga, Northern Daisies and SACD opened up with victories with differing degrees of difficulty as they looked to earn promotion to the A Section. While the Mens B Section was highlighted by a pulsating 6-4 win for the SACD (Thanks to 4 goals from Courtney Halle) over Border. KZN Mynahs, North West and WP Pens all earned clean sheet victories in their game as the candidates for the top 4 quickly emerged.
IPT2022 | Opening day heroics for the SA U21 sides in Pretoria
It's been a little under 12 months since the SA Women’s Inter-Provincial tournament took place in Cape Town last year. In the time since, the national women’s head coach has changed, the team went to the FIH Hockey World Cup and the Commonwealth Games and are now preparing for the FIH Nations Cup in Spain later this year. For the Men though its been three years since the teams battled for glory in Bloemfontein. In that edition Western Province was victorious over Southern Gauteng with a penalty shootout win that would see them hold the title for three years. A lot of water has passed under the bridge for the South African Hockey Men in the past three years and many young players would be excited for the opportunity to get themselves into Garreth Ewing’s thinking.
With much anticipation, the tournament began across three venues in Pretoria with Tswhane University of Technology playing premier host. Although for the men the tournament started at Eldoraigne where the 2018 and 19 runners up Southern Gauteng dismissed the challenge of their “B” side SG Wits netting six goals through six different goal scorers. They were joined in the big win circle by Western Province who took longer than they would have liked to put the Free State challenge to bed. Peter Jarvis, a former SA U21 star, netted a hat-trick to put himself of the scorers list on day 1.
TUT’s first taste of the Men’s A Section was a game that put itself on the shelf as a potential game of the tournament. SA U21 under the guidance of Guy Elliott for the first time at a tournament. They took on the 2018 champions KZN Raiders. It was the previous winners who struck first through Kewan Harries but found themselves 2-1 down at the break with Cameron le Forrestier and Hans Neethling doing the damage. The Raiders fought back and regained the lead themselves with Taylor Kelly-Stack first and later Mbuso Mgobozi turning the game on its head. But it was Calvin Davis who wrote the final story of the game securing a sensational draw in a match that will be remembered for a long time.
The hosts Northern Blues were meticulous and consistent in their approach scoring a goal in each quarter to seal a 4-1 victory over Eastern Province to take a maximum three points.
In the Women’s A Section Kayla de Waal starred in the opening game as Western Province netted five first half goals against Eastern Province, before taking the foot off the pedal in the second half and allowing a late consolation goal for EP in a 5-2 win. At the other end of the day a star studded Northern Blues side saw Tegan Fourie pulling the strings as they ran out comfortable and unchallenged 7-0 winners against Free State.
Southern Gauteng were strongly expected to emerge the winners in their encounter against Wits but despite taking the lead through Lisa Hawker, the defending champions were unable to see it through and Bonolo Moabi netted an equaliser that made the group instantly more interesting.
The KZN Raiders were looking to bring back the high of 2017 when they won the tournament at the Randburg Astro, but their early ambitions faced an early shock as they were defeated by the SA U21 side. Certain Fourie and Ntsopa Mokoena opened the scoring for Lenise Marais side before the Raiders worked their way back through legendary Shelley Jones. As they sought an equaliser they were rocked again by a Laiken Brissett finish that ultimately would be enough despite a late Raiders goal by Jessica Lardant.
In the women’s B Section North West, Mpumlanga, Northern Daisies and SACD opened up with victories with differing degrees of difficulty as they looked to earn promotion to the A Section. While the Mens B Section was highlighted by a pulsating 6-4 win for the SACD (Thanks to 4 goals from Courtney Halle) over Border. KZN Mynahs, North West and WP Pens all earned clean sheet victories in their game as the candidates for the top 4 quickly emerged.
