The Women’s Interprovincial Final between Border and Western Province is expected to unfold into a spectacle at the BCM Stadium in East London on Saturday as the teams put their bodies on the line for the title.
Western Province boasts the bragging rights as defending champions, while Border will look to earn their place in the history books by winning their first Interprovincial title.
Should Western Province emerge victorious, it will not only mark back-to-back titles for the talented Cape side, it would also represent their third title since the competition’s inception in 2003.
But history will have no significance when the teams meet, as both sides have been in fine form this season and come off convincing victories in their respective semifinals.
They also both have a handful of Springbok Women’s players who are high on confidence after thumping Uganda 63-3 in East London two weeks ago to book their place in the 2014 Rugby World Cup in France and these ladies will be expected to lead by example.
With their sights set firmly on making the most of their home ground advantage, Border have loaded their side with seven players who featured in Springbok Womens’ match-23 named in the squad – five of whom are in the starting lineup.
They include Springbok Women’s captain Mandisa Williams, star scrumhalf Fundiswa Plaatjie, looseforward Nwabisa Ngxatu and prop Asithandile Ntoyanto.
Western Province, meanwhile, will rely heavily on their Springbok Women, Natasha Hofmeester, Laurian Johannes, Veroeshka Grain and Andrea Mentoor to provide leadership and guidance as they go in search of back-to-back titles.
The teams have been closely matched this season, although Western Province have scored two more tries than their East London counterparts, while the home team will take comfort from the fact that they have leaked three less tries than the Cape side.
Western Province will also draw motivation from the fact that they were the only team to beat Border in the round-robin stages of the series.
In the B Division final, defending champions the Limpopo Blue Bulls will meet Griquas as a curtain-raiser to the A Division final.
Griquas will enter the clash as favourites as they have won more matches this season and finished the pool stages as the top team. But the Limpopo Blue Bulls will take confidence from their convincing 52-34 victory when the teams met during their round-robin stages in Kimberley.
SA Rugby 2013 Women’s IPT Final:
21 Sept; 13h00: Griquas vs Limpopo Blue Bulls (B Division Final) 21 Sept; 15h00: Border vs Western Province (A Division Final) SA Rugby 2013 Women’s IPT Semi-Final Results and Basic Match Stats: 14 Sept: Border 7-34 (0-17) Western Province (Six tries to one) 14 Sept: Border 46-0 (7-0) Free State (Seven tries to nil) A Division Round 4 Results of the Women’s IPT: 31 Aug: Western Province 15-0 Border 31 Aug: Blue Bulls 62-0 South Western Districts 31 Aug: Boland 34-10 Griffons 31 Aug: Free State 93-5 Golden Lions B Division: 30 Aug: Valke 5-26 Griquas 31 Aug: Leopards 39-26 Limpopo Blue Bulls A Division Round 3 Results of the Women’s IPT: 3 August: Border 36-5 South Western Districts 3 August: Western Province 34-12 Eastern Province 3 August: Boland Cavaliers 0-36 KwaZulu-Natal 3 August: Griffons 21-13 MTN Golden Lions B Division: 2 August: Valke 12-10 Mpumalanga Pumas 3 August: Griqualand West 34-52 Limpopo Blue Bulls A Division Round 2 Results of the Women’s IPT: 20 July: Blue Bulls 27-10 Western Province 20 July: KwaZulu-Natal 56-5 Griffons 20 July: Free State 37-0 Boland B Division: 19 July: Leopards 10-17 Valke 20 July: Mpumalanga Pumas 12-34 Griqualand West A Division Round 1 Results of the Women’s IPT: 6 July: Down Touch Griffons 10-51 Free State 6 July: South-Western Districts 15-28 EP Kings 6 July: Border 31-17 Vodacom Blue Bulls MTN Golden Lions 3-83 KwaZulu-Natal B Division: 6 July: Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls 5-17 Pumas 6 July: GWK Griquas 22-14 Leopards(With editing by gsport)
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