The wind was back in Kimberley for the third day of the 2011 Craven Week at GWK Park.

Eastern Province CD vs Leopards, 40-10

It was an unfortunate match in which the leopards were regularly found guilty of dangerous tackles. In the first half this earned a yellow card for one player and then a red card for another and the second started with two dangerous tackles by the reckless men from the North West who spent most of the match on the defensive.

The Leopards had the wind in the first half but the Eastern Province side did all the attacking.  The attacking was mainly through their bulky forwards as the passing by their backs was destructive. They did get over in a heap once but were held up and then the TMO advised against a possible try by James Moore. The Leopards backs were more effective but they had little ball.

Adriaan Esterhuizen opened the scoring for the Leopards with a penalty but the Eastern Province CD could have gone into a big lead had their goalkicking been normal. Ntsiki Mlamleni goaled one to level the score. Two kicks in the second half gave Eastern Province CD a 9-3 lead.

Then the Leopards came back. They eschewed two simple kicks at goal and strong Sias Koen tapped, charged and scored to give his side an unlikely lead.

Then two grave errors by the Leopards gave the Eastern Province CD two tries - one from a knock-on and one when lock Mazel Kiewiets charged down a kick and scored. That made the score 23-10. Their third try was a result of kick and chase.

Leopards came back again and bashed till Sias Koen powered through five defenders for an astonishing try. Eastern Province CD answered with a soaring drop by Willem Venter. Then a long break by Moore made a try for Juandré Fourie in the left corner. Venter converted from touch. The change of kicker certainly worked.

Scorers:

For Eastern Province Country Districts:
Tries: Mazel Kiewiets, Renaldo Meyer, Ntsiki Mlamleni
Cons: Willem Venter 4
Pens: Ntsiki Mlamleni 3
Drop: Willem Venter

For Leopards:
Tries: Sias Koen 2
Cons: Adriaan Esterhuizen 2
Pen: Adriaan Esterhuizen

Teams

Eastern Province Country Districts: 15 Ntsiki Mlamleni, 14 Juandré Fourie, 13 James Moore, 12 Lood de Jager, 11 Renaldo Meyer, 10 Willem Venter (vice-captain), 9 Nicholas Poone, 8 J Oosthuizen, 7 Nico Stuurman, 6 Richard van Straaten (captain), 5 Mazel Kiewiets, 4 Henfred Linde, 3 Edgar Fletcher, 2 Tyrone Rankin, 1 Dean Ferreira
Replacements: 16 Cornelius van Zyl, 17 Sean Koeberg, 18 Christiaan Steyn, 19 Ayabonga Gantweni, 20 Colin Goosen, 21 Athinkosi Mankosi, 22 Zubin Baartman

Leopards: 15 Adriaan Esterhuizen, 14 Pakamani Maganga, 13 Jacobus Groenewald, 12 Ryno Pienaar, 11 Hendrik Marais, 10 Bouke Tack, 9 Jan de Kock, 8 Sias Koen, 7 Claude Tshidibi, 6 Petrus Bredell, 5 Kyle Brock, 4 Wynand Bosman, 3 Melchior Terblanche, 2 Francois Annandale, 1 Reginald Standers
Replacemnts: 16 Jonathan de Melim, 17 Jacobus Myburgh, 18 Lian Stander, 19 Moena Monese, 20, Hermanus Smith21 Misile Barnes, 22 Gontse Shwabane

Referee: Dilbert November