Pongola in the final

Mike Harrison

AS expected, Pongola qualified for the Findlay Cup final when they beat Vryheid III 26-11 in a semi-final clash at Pongola on Saturday.
With the strong wind a major factor in this game and with things a little tight to start off with, there were only three points separating the teams at half time.
All the points came from penalties with Phillip Lourens kicking three for Pongola as against two for the visiting team.
In the second half things changed quite dramatically.
The scoring changed from penalties to tries and with the home team lifting their game, especially among the forwards, they ran out comfortable winners.
Charles van der Merwe and David Miennie, who got over twice, were their try scorers with Lourens adding a conversion to finish with 11 points for the match.
Vryheid replied with a second half try but with one of their players off the field having being red-carded they were up against a much stronger pack and were no match for the home team.

Final
Pongola will meet DHS Old Boys in the final next Saturday.
From all accounts this promises to be a stern test for Pongola.
With no injury problems and all their players available, they hope to be at full strength for this important occasion.
Their away record, especially this season, has been a little disappointing.
But with so much at stake, and the fact that Zululand haven’t won this trophy for quite a few years now, this should help to encourage them to give it their all and bring back the trophy to Zululand.
A Pongola victory would be a great boost to Zululand club rugby in this sub-union.
The match will be played at the Durban University grounds and kicks off at 1pm.