The North-West University (NWU) Eagles Young Guns (YG) are heading to the FNB Young Guns Final after defeating FNB UCT Ikeys YG 31-24 at the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds on Monday, 15 April.

A rather slow start from the NWU Eagles YG saw the home team nearly getting punished by a missed penalty kick from the Ikeys full back, Monray Daars. Soon afterwards, Jamaine Dampies’ dazzling solo run gave the NWU Eagles YG the lead. UCT Ikeys YG responded with a close-range try from Ali-Amjad Osman.

Zack Serfontein retaliated soon thereafter when he blasted through the Ikeys defence to restore the lead for the home side. Micheal Mostert’s kicking prowess landed the conversion for the NWU Eagles YGs, and soon afterwards a scrum near the Eagles’ posts resulted in Aidan Norris dotting down the five-pointer for the Ikeys. A tied 12-12 score at half-time was reached through a conversion from Monray Daars.

The NWU Eagles YG took command of the game in the second half thanks to two tries from Angelo Daniels and two perfect conversions from Micheal Mostert. After Hanro Venter’s try, the game ended 31-24 in favour of the NWU Eagles YG.

“We did not play well at all; our forwards struggled, UCT scrummed us and we conceded too many penalties at the scrum. Towards the end we played wider and got around them – something we wanted to do right from the beginning,” said coach Hannes Esterhuizen.

The NWU Eagles YG will face a stubborn UFS YG side on Monday, 22 April at Shimla Park in Bloemfontein after the latter trashed Maties YG 37-17 in Stellenbosch in the other semi-final.

“We will put a lot of hard work into our set pieces before we head into that game,” Esterhuizen concluded.

The FNB NWU Eagles YG were Hanro Venter, Devon Franco Windvogel, Michael Jonathan Devy, Stephen Seth Taylor, Zack Serfontein, Micheal John Mostert, Pieter Coetzer, Jason Daniel Oosthuizen, Ronald Steenkamp, Duan du Toit, Johannes Hendrik Van Der Merwe, Ashwen Franklin Damons, Senekane Mmuse, Juan Baard, Angelo Daniels, Aqeel De Bruyn, and Jamiane Dampies.

The replacements were: Kraynu Kruger, Onalenna Benedict Katake, Ebraim Boipelo Pienaar, Johan Derrick van Zyl, Jean Jooste, Colen, Jay-Tee George.

The NWU Eagles Young Guns are looking to defend their title, and on behalf of the NWU, they have our best wishes.