The Joe Gqabi District Municipality got their Geneva Scholtz Women’s Rugby Games campaign to an inspiring start when they won all three matches in the pool stages of the three-day tournament taking place at Midros Stadium in Middleburg.
Tomorrow, Joe Gqabi will face second-placed Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the final which came second in the pool stages of the provincial women’s rugby tournament.
The only strong opponent Joe Gqabi faced was in their first game against Sarah Baartman and they managed to outplay them 10-5.
That positive start gave the Joe Gqabi women the much-needed confidence to go on and beat Alfred Nzo District Municipality 32-0 in their second game.
Joe Gqabi continued their winning streak when they beat the hosts Chris Hani District 30-0. Second-placed Sarah Baartman bounced back strongly from their opening losses against the number one team – Joe Gqabi, when they went to on to beat Chris Hani 53-0.
In the third game of the pool stages, Sarah Baartman thrashed Alfred Nzo 50-0 to qualify for the finals taking place tomorrow at the same venue. Department of sport, recreation, arts and culture (DSRAC) MEC Bulelwa Tunyiswa said her department wanted to develop the girls, especially in male- dominated rugby, but she emphasised the importance of the private sector's involvement in such an initiative.
“Things have gone very well so far. I watched the most interesting games and I think that we need more support from business, for instance because these athletes need to get something they can be proud of.
“They will get trophies and medals, but they should get more, because they are unemployed and some of them see this as a kind of a job.
“So we need to see more business coming in at this level as well, and not at a national level only,” said Tunyiswa.
Results: Chris Hani 5 Alfred Nzo 10, Joe Gqabi 10 Sarah Baartman 5, Alfred Nzo 0 Joe Gqabi 32, Chris Hani 0 Sarah Baartman 53, Alfred Nzo 0 Sarah Baartman 50, Joe Gqabi 30 Chris Hani 0. Nelson Mandela Metro 5 Chris Hani 36, Amathole 46 BCM 0. OR Tambo 21 Nelson Mandela Metro 7 ...