JOHANNESBURG, 15 April 2015 – A change of fortune will see Gauteng North launch a forceful attack in round four of the South African U-23 Inter-Provincial after catching up to Central Gauteng and Ekurhuleni at Country Club Johannesburg on Wednesday.

The defending champions thumped North West 9 – 3 to draw level with Central Gauteng and Ekurhuleni on five points.

The Daisies will need to pull off another solid performance, though, to make up their deficit in games points.

Central Gauteng and Ekurhuleni drew 6-all, but Central retained their lead in the standings with 25 games points.

Ekurhuleni lags half a games point behind and Gauteng North finished within striking distance with 23 games points.

Kifentse Nukeri and Adriel Poonan handed Tebogo Serame and Terrence Mogapi a 6 & 5 drubbing to give Gauteng North the early momentum in the Foursomes.

The rest of the team followed suit to give Gauteng North a 4 – 0 lead heading into the Singles.

Nukeri lost 3 & 2, but Poonan kept Gauteng North’s ahead when he defeated Mogapi 2-up.

JP Cooper lost 4 & 2 to Marco Schoenfeld, but Ruan Conradie beat Stephen Allen 5 & 4 and Albert Venter defeated Riaan Swart 1-up to keep Gauteng North in the driver’s seat.

Ruan Prigge scored a third point for North West when he downed Marco Loubser 3 & 1, but reigning Nomads SA Boys U-19 Match Play champion Rosswell Sinclair and Divan Marais cleaned up in the last two matches to secure a six point victory for Gauteng North.

Western Province took a narrow 6.5 – 5.5 victory over KwaZulu-Natal and edged into fourth in the standings on three points.

Meanwhile, the B-Section promotion battle is also heating up.

Southern Cape whipped Boland 8.5 – 3.5 to overhaul the overnight leaders for pole position in the grid.

The Garden Route side leads with five points and have 23 games points in hand, while Boland slipped to second with four points and 19 games points.

Southern Cape enjoyed two wins, a loss and a halve in the Foursomes.

Riaan Grootboom, Caylum Boon, Julian Sale from Reunion, Alan Lones, Franklin Manchest and Cameron Morales reeled in the points in the Singles, while KwaZulu-Natal’s Erhard Lambrechts beat Hans-Jurie Human 3 & 1 and Keagan Thomas defeated Andre Nel 2-up to score two points for the coastal side.

The match between Mpumalanga and Free State ended in a 6-all draw, but Free State edged into third on three points with half a games point advantage.

Eastern Province downed Limpopo 8 – 4 in the final match and the teams are ranked fifth and sixth respectively.

A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Central Gauteng (3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 25.0)
2 Ekurhuleni (3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 24.5)
3 Gauteng North (3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 23.0)
4 Western Province (3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 16.0)
5 KwaZulu-Natal (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 14.0)
6 North West (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 5.5)

B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Southern Cape (3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 23.0)
2 Boland (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 19.0)
3 Free State (3, 0, 3, 0, 3, 18.0)
4 Mpumalanga (3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 17.5)
5 Eastern Province (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 17.0)
6 Limpopo (3, 0, 1, 2, 1, 13.5)

PHOTO – Adriel Poonan from Gauteng North; credit Catherine Kotze / SASPA