{"id":77218,"date":"2025-07-09T18:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T16:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=77218"},"modified":"2025-07-09T18:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T16:48:08","slug":"lions-whack-ep-to-close-in-on-third-straight-academy-week-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=77218","title":{"rendered":"Lions whack EP to close in on third straight Academy Week title"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_77257\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-77257\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-77257\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Sharks-vs-Boland-Academy-Week-400x350.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"350\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-77257\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Hannes Rossouw Photography.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Having racked up 164 points in their first two outings at this year&#8217;s <strong>Academy Week,<\/strong> the <strong>Golden Lions<\/strong> find themselves in pole position to clinch their third consecutive title, following back-to-back wins in 2023 and &#8217;24.<\/p>\n<p>Relive all the action on\u00a0<strong>SuperSport Schools &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/AcademyWeek2025\">(www.supersportschools.com)<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In their second encounter, a rematch of the 2024 final and the main match of day two against <strong>Eastern Province<\/strong>, they again ran rampant to run away with 56-10.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jaydon Viljoen<\/strong> is now the leading points-scorer of the week, having enjoyed a flawless day from the tee to convert all eight of his side&#8217;s tries. Scrumhalf, <strong>Gideon Diedericks<\/strong>, of Ho\u00ebrskool Noordheuwel, enjoyed a stellar first start to run in a brace of tries, while his Nories colleague, <strong>Andrew Lambert<\/strong>, also dotted down twice thanks to a dominant performance by the pack.<\/p>\n<p>The Lions&#8217; driving maul continues to be a lethal weapon in their quest for glory, ensuring that the dangerous backline from south of the Jukskei can launch wave after wave of attack.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Western Province<\/strong> held off a spirited performance from the <strong>Lions Welpies <\/strong>to eventually scrape through 25-21. Initially, the Cape-based side looked as if they were comfortably on their way to victory over the Lions youngsters, yet the Welpies refused to lie down.<\/p>\n<p>Prop <strong>Diandro Botha<\/strong> led the fightback with another powerhouse performance that yielded two tries. However, early scores by <strong>Wege van Zyl<\/strong> and <strong>Harry Soboil<\/strong>, as well as the final nail in the coffin by livewire fullback, <strong>Chadlin Sellidon<\/strong>, saw WP through.<\/p>\n<p>The battle at the breakdown was particularly ferocious, with both sides relentlessly attacking the ball. Province&#8217;s four-point victory has booked a showdown with the Lions in the unofficial final on Friday, which will take place on Ho\u00ebrskool Middelburg&#8217;s A-Field.<\/p>\n<p>The Sharks&#8217; <strong>Theo Boshoff<\/strong> had another noteworthy performance in KwaZulu-Natal&#8217;s 32-5 victory over <strong>Boland<\/strong>. As was the case in the Sharks&#8217; first outing, Boshoff was instrumental with his energetic performance and was rewarded with another try this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>South Western District<\/strong>&#8216;s Eagles handed <strong>Free State<\/strong> their second consecutive loss with a dominant performance. Backed up by <strong>Charles Vosloo<\/strong>&#8216;s boot, <strong>Henru Nel<\/strong>, <strong>Farrel Dido<\/strong> and <strong>Caleb Williams<\/strong> all crossed the whitewash as the Eagles cruised to a 25-7 win, rubbing further salt into the Free State wounds.<\/p>\n<p>The Waterkloof duo from the <strong>Blue Bulls<\/strong>, <strong>Marko Kok<\/strong> and <strong>Ronan Bastiaanse<\/strong>, delivered the goods as the side from north of the Jukskei returned to winning ways with a 52-19 romp against the <strong>Limpopo Blue Bulls<\/strong>. Along with his brace of tries, Bastiaanse also slotted four conversions to move up to second spot on the points-scorers table.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Scorers:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Middelburg B-Field:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Golden Lions 56 (28)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Gideon Diedericks (2), Andrew Lambert (2), Ndimphiwe Mijiji, Rio Tshimbalanga, Samuel Smith, Michael Nwongwugwu. Conversions: Jaydon Viljoen (8).\u00a0<strong>Eastern Province 10 (5)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Tries: James Mackenzie, Bradley Myburgh.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Western Province 25 (12)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Wege van Zyl, Harry Soboil, Chadlin Sellidon. Conversions: Francois van der Merwe (2). Penalties: Van der Merwe (2).\u00a0<strong>Golden Lions XV 21 (0) <\/strong>&#8211; Diandro Botha (2), Dali Milanzi. Conversions: Daniel Soekoe (3).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sharks 32 (22)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Theo Boshoff, Kanco Visagie, Ludi van der Walkt, Olwethu Kosani. Conversions: Cilermo Carolus (3). Penalties: Carolus.\u00a0<strong>Boland 5 (0)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Try: Mychal Swart.<\/p>\n<p><strong>South Western Districts 25 (25)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Henru Nel, Farrel Dido, Caleb Williams. Conversions: Charles Vosloo (2). Penalty: Vosloo (2).\u00a0<strong>Free State 7 (0)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Try: Keaton Pottas. Conversion: Okuhle Dyani.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blue Bulls 52 (31)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Marko Kok (2), Ronan Bastiaanse (2), Charl Els, Joshua Fourie, Nico Klein, Petrus Rautenbach. Conversions: Ronan Bastiaanse (4), Tilon Baron (2).\u00a0<strong>Limpopo Blou Bulle 19 (0)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Joe Cloete, Henco Venter, Daniel Leahy. Conversions: Juan Randall (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having racked up 164 points in their first two outings at this year&#8217;s Academy Week, the Golden Lions find themselves in pole position to clinch their third consecutive title, following back-to-back wins in 2023 and &#8217;24. Relive all the action on\u00a0SuperSport Schools &#8211; (www.supersportschools.com)\u00a0 In their second encounter, a rematch of the 2024 final and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":77257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}