Masiphumelele put the proverbial cat among the pigeons when they beat one of the contenders for the title Hamediehs 29-25 in the Promotion League in Noordhoek on Saturday 3 September.
This was not the only upset of the weekend as Van der Stel-Evergreens, currently at the top of the log, lost 43-42 to Sir Lowrians in Stellenbosch.
With these upsets, it is not yet decided who will be crowned as the eventual champions on Saturday 8 October as Blakes, which had a bye, is also in the running.
The nine teams competing in the Promotion League are the top three teams of the City, Northerns and Southern Leagues, and three out of the nine will gain promotion to Western Province Club Rugby’s Super League C next year. The City League is represented by Lagunya, Atlantis and Northerns, the Southern League by Violets, Hamediehs and Masiphumelele, while Blakes, Sir Lowrians and Van der Stel-Evergreens each represent the Northern League.
Each team plays each other once to determine who finishes in positions one and two on the Top 9 log, and teams in positions three and four will compete in a play-off on neutral ground to determine who will join the top two next year in Super League C.
The last three teams in Super League drop automatically to the Northern, Southern and City Leagues next year.
In Stellenbosch last week, Sir Lowrians wanted the win the most as they lost by 28-23 against Hamediehs after being behind. A mistake in the last minute of the game cost them and saw them finishing second.
The same thing happened against Van der Stel-Evergreens, where they also had to play catch-up. This time they made the best of the situation with the last-gasp try. With less than a minute on the clock and Van der Stel-Evergreens in the lead by four points, Sir Lowrians succeeded to push the score up to 43-42 in their favour.
Violets were in a rampant mood in Chukker Road in Lansdowne against Atlantis and sent the latter home with their tails between their legs with a 40-0 beating.
Lagunya beat Northerns in Elsies River, the second time this year, by 32-22. Northerns must still register a win, although they picked up a bonus point in a previous match for losing with less than seven points.
Sir Lowrians and Van der Stel will play in the next two weeks, starting with the derby on Saturday 10 September against Van der Stel-Evergreens on Bergzicht Sportsfield. Blakes then take on Hamediehs in Athlone before completing the league with the match against Sir Lowrians in Cloetesville on Saturday 1 October.
In Super League A, B and C, the quarter-finals were determined in the Top 6 competition where the two top teams in each league automatically qualified for the semi-finals.
Results:
Super League A:
UCT Ikeys 22, Hamiltons 16
Union-Milnerton 28, Maties 38
Super League B:
St. Georges 29, Bellville 12
Belhar23 All Saints 18
Super League C:
Macassar 23, Rangers 17
Kylemore 27, Kraaifontein 27* * Kylemore progress due to scoring more tries.
