{"id":77422,"date":"2025-07-12T07:49:51","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T05:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=77422"},"modified":"2025-07-12T07:49:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T05:49:51","slug":"mouthwatering-semi-finals-await-at-u16-sashoc-national-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=77422","title":{"rendered":"Mouthwatering semi-finals await at u16 SASHOC National Week"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Southern Gauteng A overwhelmed KZN Inland B 7-0 in their last Pool A match to finish the group stage undefeated. Photo: Teamphoto SA<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a classic north versus south contest, Southern Gauteng A<\/strong> takes on Western Province A<\/strong> on Saturday in one of the two semi-finals of the u16 SASHOC National Week<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The second semi-final, between Boland A <\/strong>and Eastern Province A<\/strong>, is a rematch of the 2024 final.<\/p>\n

Both matches will be held at Hilton College<\/strong> on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Southerns and Province meet at 12:15. Not only will Southerns be eyeing a place in the final, but they’ll also be eyeing revenge. When the sides last met, in the playoff for fifth place last year, Province claimed a 2-0 win.<\/p>\n

On their way to the semi-finals, Southerns dominated Pool B, collecting maximum points.\u00a0Coach Siya Sityana<\/strong>\u2019s side beat Northern Gauteng A<\/strong> 6-2, outplayed KZN Inland A<\/strong> 4-2, saw off Southern Gauteng B<\/strong> 5-3, defeated Eastern Province A 3-1, and then hammered KZN Inland B<\/strong> 7-0 in their final outing.<\/p>\n

Blaine Candy<\/strong> enjoyed an outstanding Friday in the circle, scoring three times in Southerns’ back-to-back wins. That lifted him to seven goals for the tournament, just one behind the leading goal scorer, Luc Boyall<\/strong> of KZN Coastal A<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Candy was on the scoresheet in his side’s 3-1 triumph over Eastern Province, with Matthew Jung<\/strong> and Kade Lottering<\/strong> also finding the back of the net. Then, he was one of two Southerns’ players to bag a brace in their 7-0 romp over KZN Inland B. Rourque\u00a0van Rooyen<\/strong> also struck twice, while Thomas Collins<\/strong>, Matthew Jung, and Kade Lottering added a goal each.<\/p>\n

Province, after three wins and two draws, placed second in Pool A with 11 points. Coach Sam Holmes\u2019<\/strong> side, in a big surprise, was held to a 1-1 draw by KZN Coastal B<\/strong> in their first outing. They cruised past Southern Free State A <\/strong>next time out, winning 4-1, outplayed Western Province B<\/strong> 2-1, edged out KZN Coastal A<\/strong> 3-2 in a key clash, and then drew 2-2 with Boland A, who finished at the summit of Pool A.<\/p>\n

Boland’s focus will be on a second title in succession. In 2024, they shared a 2-2 draw with Eastern Province A in the final but claimed the title 1-0 in a penalty shootout.<\/p>\n

Coach Shaun McIntyre<\/strong>\u2019s side won four of their five group games, beating Western Province B 7-3, Southern Free State A 5-1, KZN Coastal A 4-3, and KZN Coastal B 3-1. They drew 2-2 with Western Province, as previously mentioned.<\/p>\n

Against Western Province, Boland overturned a 0-2 deficit to force a draw after their neighbours came out of the blocks quickly. Ross Wille<\/strong> put Province ahead through a short corner conversion in the 10th minute and Zach Hillman<\/strong> doubled Province\u2019s lead with a second penalty corner conversion three minutes later.<\/p>\n

Boland gained a foothold in the game when Nicholas Knoll<\/strong> registered his first goal of the tournament with a strike in the 18th minute, but they then spent the next 35 minutes chasing an equaliser. It came, eventually, through Luke van der Merwe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Boland\u2019s semi-final opponents, Eastern Province A, won four of their five group contests: beating Southern Gauteng B 4-1 in their opener, KZN Inland B 2-0, Northern Gauteng A 4-3, and KZN Inland A 5-1. Then came their loss to Southern Gauteng A on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Boland versus Eastern Province semi-final starts at 15:05.<\/p>\n

RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pool A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boland A: 2 – Nicholas Knoll, Luke van der Merwe. Western Province A: 2 – <\/strong>Ross Wille, Zach Hillman.
\nKZN Coastal A: 5 – <\/strong>Daniel Rea (3), Luc Boyall, Luke Lambert. KZN Coastal B: 1 <\/strong>– Sibeko Sisekelo.
\nSouthern Free State A: 3<\/strong> – Eben Stander, Kaden Hendersen, Ethan Seager. Western Province B: 2<\/strong> – Max Fourie, Cuan Cadiz.
\n
\nPool B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Southern Gauteng A: 3<\/strong> – Blaine Candy, Matthew Jung, Kade Lottering. \u00a0Eastern Province A: 1 <\/strong>– James Chree.
\nSouthern Gauteng B: 2<\/strong> – Mpilo Chabe, Delon Blignaut. KZN Inland B: 0.<\/strong>
\nKZN Inland A: 3<\/strong> – Santiago Matroos (2), Rayhan Fitz. Northern Gauteng A: 1<\/strong> – Ethan Jaftha.
\nSouthern Gauteng A: 7<\/strong> – Blaine Candy (2), Rourque van Rooyen (2), Thomas Collins, Matthew Jung, Kade Lottering. \u00a0KZN Inland B: 0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a classic north versus south contest, Southern Gauteng A takes on Western Province A on Saturday in one of the two semi-finals of the u16 SASHOC National Week. The second semi-final, between Boland A and Eastern Province A, is a rematch of the 2024 final. Both matches will be held at Hilton College on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":77423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77422","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\/77422","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}