South Africa

The SA Juniors sounded an ominous warning to the rest of the field when they outclassed the powerful Northerns team 3-0 in an entertaining main match on day one of the Spar Inter-Provincial women's hockey tournament at the AB Jackson Astroturf on Sunday.
Defending champions Western Province and title wannabes Southern Gauteng also got off to winning starts on the opening day, but it was the Juniors, who impressed the most with a sterling display of committed hockey from the entire squad.

An enthralling first 30 minutes went scoreless as the teams matched each other punch for punch, but the see-saw battle ceased as the Juniors stamped their mark on the match in emphatic fashion with two scintillating goals late in the first half.

The first, from a clever penalty corner variation by Marcelle Keet shocked Northerns, who attacked strongly from the restart in a bid to level matters before the break.

However, they were left flabbergasted as a spectacular counter-attacking move that swept the length of the field and opened them up like a can of sardines ended with Megan Robertson walking the ball into the open goal.

Robertson added her second shortly after the restart that effectively killed the encounter as a contest and despite a concerted effort from the girls from Pretoria, the Juniors' line held until the final whistle for a comprehensive win.

Southern Gauteng also gave a commanding display -- especially in the first half -- to rout Eastern Province 7-0 in a lop-sided contest, after leading 5-0 at the break in the penultimate game of the day.

But credit to the girls from PE, who were wholehearted in their efforts throughout the 70 minutes, but failed to convert any of their parsimonious chances. Southerns raced into a 3-0 lead after just 13 minutes through goals by Nita van Jaarsveld, Pietie Coetzee and Dalean de Kock -- and never looked back.

Coetzee and De Kock added further scores to their tallies, while Fiona Butler and Marice Malan completed the scoring.

For EP, captain Diane Jonker and forward Roxanne Pullen did yeoman work, while EP had to thank both goalkeepers -- Marie-Louise Nel and Leandri Janse van Vuuren -- for not conceding double figures.

Peninsula (WP B) gave Free State plenty of food for thought with a slick performance in the other Pool B game, proving far too industrious for their inland opponents, to the tune of 4-0 thanks to goals from Farah Fredericks, Melissa Hillhouse, L'nanda Pienaar and Jenna Cunliffe.

In Pool A action, Province got their campaign off to a bright start with a 3-0 victory over host province, Natal Midlands. Province led 2-0 after just 15 minutes via goals by Taryn Hosking and vice-captain Kate Hector, but had to wait until six minutes from time to seal the win courtesy of a Tarryn Bright strike.

Other semi-final hopefuls KwaZulu Natal and North West also got off to winning starts on the opening day. Natal was too strong for their B team, Mynahs, scoring three unanswered goals, while the Potch-based outfit were always ahead, eventually outlasting Wits (Southerns B) 3-1 in the day's first match.

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