Star centre Markus Muller bagged a brace as Western Province pounded the Sharks at the U18 Craven Week on Thursday.
The first quarter of the match was fiercely contested, with the Sharks stretching the WP defence and wing Jadrian Afrikaner touching down for a try.
WP hit back with tries by Muller and prop Matthew van der Merwe, while flyhalf Ethan van Biljon slotted a penalty goal on the stroke of half time to increase his team’s lead to 11 points.
Province continued to dominate after the break, and went on to finish with six tries in an emphatic 45-13 win, with the impressive Muller scoring again.
Muller and No 8 Quintin Potgieter are the only WP representatives from Paarl Gim, SA’s No 1-ranked school this year, and have both been contracted by the Stormers.
After losing 41-10 to the Sharks earlier this week, EP made a statement when they put three early tries past Border in the Eastern Cape derby.
Flyhalf Tristan Kemp kicked three conversions and three penalty goals to steer his side to a convincing 30-12 victory.
The game between the Valke and Boland was in the balance at half time, before the boys from the East Rand shifted through the gears in the second stanza to secure a convincing 35-19 win.
Meanwhile, Griquas bounced back from their loss to Border to down the Leopards 46-34, with flyhalf Aidan Gadeija scoring two tries and four conversions.
The last round of the U18 Craven Week will be staged at Hoërskool Middelburg on Saturday, with WP taking on SWD in the final match of the tournament.
U18 Craven Week Day 4 results:
Boland 19 (14) Valke 35 (20)
Griquas 46 (19) Leopards 34 (24)
Border 12 (5) EP 30 (27)
WP 45 (24) Sharks 13 (13)
Day 5 fixtures (Saturday, 12 July):
A-field
9am: EP vs Bulls
10.15am: Lions vs WP XV
11.30am: Sharks vs Free State
12.45am WP vs SWD
B-field
9am: Boland vs Griffons
10.15am: Limpopo vs Leopards
11.30am: Griquas vs Valke
12.45am: Border vs Pumas
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
