Western Province crowned the unofficial champions of the U18 Coca-Cola Academy Week.

Western Province beat KwaZulu-Natal 38-7 in the final game of the U18 Coca-Cola Academy in front of a packed and very partisan crowd at HTS Drosdy in Wellington today.

 Western Province got off to a very good start and immediately put KwaZulu-Natal under pressure. It did not take long before Province’s wing Andre Manuel broke through the KZN defence to score the first try of the game.

 Province found themselves back on their opponents’ tryline directly from the kickoff, and with the defence  in tatters, Michael Meyer ran through the centre field defence and broke 4 tackles to score their second try.

 Up to this point KwaZulu-Natal had only touched the ball to restart the game. Province’s dominance was complete.

 Once again the Cape side broke easily through the KwaZulu-Natal defence with a quick backline move that finished close to the right hand corner. Province lock, Sybrand Du Toit, was in close support of his backs, and he dug the ball out and went over for his team’s 3^rd try.

 The Sharks finally got some possession and took the game into the Western Province half. This brought about a slight pause in the scoring. WP regrouped and seemed to take a breather. This did not last long and they scored again in the 30^th minute through Calvin Nel. This was the last try of the first half and Province went into the break 24-0 up.

 The second half started the same as the first, with KwaZulu-Natal missing tackles and Western Province easily breaking through to score through yet another try this time through their prop Edward Marais.

 Hayden Tharratt scored a consolation try for KwaZulu-Natal in the 46^th minute.

 Province brought on most of their bench for the rest of the game and it did not stop the scoring Taigh Schoor ran in their last try in the 66^th minute to round off a game of complete dominance.

 The other unbeaten teams this week were the Gauteng Lions, Boland XV and Blue Valke.

 Boland  23 Golden Lions 31, Pumas 26 Griffons  23,  SWD 44 EP CD 26, Free State 57 Namibia 34,  Blue Bulls 7 Eastern Province 7, Boland XV 23 Red Valke 8, Griffons CD 15 Golden Lions XV 53, Griquas 23 Blue Valke 44, KwaZulu-Natal CD 5 Pumas CD 17, Border CD 0 Leopards 76,  Border 41 Limpopo Blue Bulls 10, SA LSEN 27 Griquas CD 41.

Ends.

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