The Vodacom Bulls’ under-19 side hammered their hosts, the DHL Western Province under-19 in the opening round of the SA Rugby under-19 Cup at the Villagers Rugby Club stadium, in Cape Town.
Edgar Marutlulle’s herd proved too strong for the Cape Town outfit, with Junior Bok Corné Lavagna, prop, Mawanda Mdanda and hooker, Joshua Eras (off the bench) all going over the try line. Junior Bok flyhalf, Compion von Ludwig added three conversions and a penalty goal to his team’s tally for the day; to seal a comfortable 24-3 victory on the road.
Speaking at the conclusion of the match, Marutlulle said: “The game was a very interesting game, spending the opening 10 and final 20 minutes defending ferociously. The boys defended valiantly and we are very happy with the result,”
“Massive pressure at the breakdown and massive line speed from our players which really gave us ascendancy on the defensive part. From a set piece point of view, we would have loved to score a little bit more tries. Scoring one off the maul, one off a pick up and go and another in the opposition’s 22m line. We would have loved to score two or three off the maul because we did have the opportunities,”
“Nevertheless, it is incredible to keep Western Province try-less, it will give our players a lot of confidence moving forward, and we look forward to the coming weekend because we are looking at improving our attack set pieces as well as our transition to attack and defend,”
Speaking on how to avoid being comfortable and being trapped by the complacency bug, the under-19 mentor said: “Each week we know we have got to earn the privilege of wearing the daisy, and so it is important for us to back performance with another performance. More so for this group of players who are developing into high performance athletes, it is important for them to not get complacent and start each week on zero. So, we must continue to work for it, prepare well and make sure we have a good, clear mindset to allow each performance to be above excellence” concluded Marutlulle.
The Pretoria junior outfit, will next face Bloemfontein’s Toyota Cheetahs, at fortress Loftus Versfeld Stadium. The match is scheduled for Saturday 05 November 2022, kicking off at 13h00pm.
VODACOM BULLS UNDER-19 SCORERS:
Tries: Corne Lavagna, Mawande Mdanda and Joshua Eras.
Conversions: Compion Von Ludwig x3
Penalty: Smith Compion Von Ludwig x1
VODACOM BULLS UNDER-19 STARTING XV:
1. Corne Lavagna, 2. Juann Else, 3. Mawande Mdanda, 4. Hanno Theunissen, 5. Corne Beets, 6. Neels Volschenk, 7. Ghudian Van Reenen, 8. Abulele Ndabambi, 9. Neil Le Roux, 10. Compion Von Ludwig, 11. Adrian Joubert, 12. Gert Steyn, 13. Munashe Dukuswa, 14. Lutho Mene, 15. Quewin Nortje.
VODACOM BULLS UNDER-19 IMPACT SQUAD:
16. Mbasa Maqubela, 17. Joshua Eras, 18. Johan Louw, 19. Haydn Kemp, 20. Gcino Mdletshe, 21. Olwethu Prince Ngwenya, 22. Layron Milborrow, 23. Franco Bredenkamp.
VODACOM BULLS UNDER-19 MANAGEMENT:
Edgar Marutlulle – Head Coach; Hayden Groepes – Attack & backline; Wessel Du Plessis – Head of Juniors, Kicking & Breakdown Coach; Prieur Le Grange – Technical Advisor; Hendy Seerane – Team Manager; Tshepo Mashigo – Logistics Manager; Limbi Seyani – Sport Scientist; Tayla Chidrawi – Strength and Conditioning; Dr Gerhard Louwrens – Doctor; Claudette Echard – Physiotherapist; Darryn Berry – Physiotherapist
