Richards Bay and eShowe to contest final

Richard's Bay II and eShowe will contest the final of this year’s Weber Cup.
Richards Bay won their way into the final with a narrow, but satisfying 19-17 victory over Empangeni III. eShowe also had a battle royal on their hands, with a 10-7 win over Mandini in the deciding match played at the eShowe Sports Club. The final will take place on Friday 20 August at 8pm. The venue for this match will be announced in the near future. Mandini led 7-0 at half time against eShowe. Their try came from a superb break by outside centre Shane Botha, who ran through to score under the poles. Flyhalf and newcomer to the Mandini team, Morné Norje, converted. The eShowe coaching staff did some stern talking at half time and their team came out firing after the break. No 8 Vickus Taute scored the equalising try and, with Christo Claasen converting, the teams were on even terms. And then with time running out, it was Claasen who slotted the winning penalty to give his team a crack at the Weber Cup.

Melmoth
In a Weber Cup northern section match played at Richards Bay, the home team’s third side led Melmoth 51-18. Melmoth led 18-10 at half time and were looking quite comfortable at this stage. But that’s where their comfort came to an end, as Richards Bay then brought on their ‘manne’ and that was that as far as they were concerned. Six more tries were scored and, together with a penalty and four conversions, the home team were comfortable winners.

Empangeni
In a second match in the northern section, Empangeni III, who led 22-14 at half time, beat Hluhluwe 44-33. Empangeni outscored their opponents by seven to five. Rickert Myburgh, Louis Grant and Kobus Jansen, with two tries each, and Thata Lesoro were Empangeni’s try scorers. Dashton Wellman kicked three conversions and a penalty to complete the scoring for Empangeni. Hluhluwe replied with five tries, a penalty and three conversions to pick up a bonus point for their efforts, in what was an entertaining game of rugby.