The Mpumalanga Panthers has beaten the Northern Bulls in the Jan Prinsloo Cup Final on Saturday18-16.
This is the 2nd Consecutive year that the Panthers wins the Cup.
This is the 2nd Consecutive year that the Panthers wins the Cup.
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The Bulls have announced their coaching staff for the upcoming season. Congrats to all - and good luck.   On the 2nd of July 2016 the Mpumalanga Panthers and Border Buffalos travelled to Bloemfontein to play an exhibition Rugby League Match at the Collegians Rugby Club.
The two teams left early on Saturday morning and arrived ready and eager to commence with the battle. Due to other Union Rugby commitments the teams were unable to field a full club team but rather a combined team consisting of players in their respective provinces. A very strong and well prepared Panther’s team where the victors on the day winning the Border Buffalos with a score of 58-6, the halftime score where 26-6 in favour of the Panthers. Congratulations to the Panthers! The experience of the Panther’s where eminent during the game with the Border Buffalos, being a development team, making a lot of unforced errors and especially in the defence area. This being said the Buffalos played with a Lion heart and never accepted defeat during the game ,said Gendall. Well done to Buffalos and the fact that both teams travelled to Bloemfontein to participate in the game at their own costs is applaudable. According to one of the new Rhino coaches, Tjaart vd Walt, the talent on the day was exceptional and promising. The depth of the Panther’s where visible and this was partly due to all the new players that joined the Rugby League fraternity in Mpumalanga. JP Opperman the Club Chairman of the Border Buffalos has shown great leadership in getting his squad together and the improvement in their game skills is defiantly visible. He has managed to start three active Rugby League clubs in the Border Province. Gerry Gendall, the coach of the Panthers would like to thank all that contributed in making this day possible. He would also like to thank Bloemfontein Rugby Club ( the Ramblers) that made the field available for them to play on, Maselspoort where some of the players and family stayed overnight, and a special thank you to Oom Jan Prinsloo who convened all the negotiations between the Collegians Rugby Club as well as with Maselspoort regarding accommodation. Gerry would also like to thank the Border Buffalos and Mpumalanga Panthers players and supporters who left at 04:00 in the morning to be in Bloemfontein and returned the same afternoon and safely home. Well done to all!! " This young inexperienced team, the Western Vikings of Potchefstroom Dorp Rugby Klub,caused more than one "upset" during the 2015 season. The Bears went down in Potchefstroom 34-32 as leaders at the time in the Protea competition. Next to follow was the visiting American University of Beirut that was well beaten and wounded by the same team going down 54-22 !. Potchefstroom Dorp Rutgby Klub, being the first Union club in South Africa to open the doors for Rutgby League, also accommodate the provincial side, the Western Warthogs who narrowly lost in the provincial semi final against the Panthers who later beat the Northern Bulls to gain the Jan Prinslooi Rugby League Provincial Cup. There is a lot to say about this young inexperienced side. According to Oom Jan, chairman of Rugby League in the North West, the team performed through a spirit of commitment, dedication and to give it all and this without having a rugby league coach ! " What is more is that the Luiperds Rugby Union took a stand and encouraged union clubs to take hands with rugby league. This could bring a new wind to rugby league, not only in the North West but to the rest of South Africa" according to Oom jan. Team Photo: The Lion tamers, Potchefstroom Dorp's Western Vikings with Wimpie Jacobs (left front) Quintin Dreyer (middel coach) Dr. Jan Janse van Rensburg (Chairman and Piet Jordaan.(team specialist adviser) The lady in the middle is Beauty Jacobs, assistant physiotherapist. Photo: The Jan Prinsloo Provincial Rugby League Cup now with the Panthers. Oom Jan (right) and Fanie Bredenhann. South African Rugby League has been hard at work in the past few weeks, embarking on an ambitious project to start qualifying all club coaches up to international standards. Working with the NRL and the AsiaPacific Rugby League Association, a long term project was initiated and Brian Greige, an international coaching moderator, has been sent to South Africa for 3 months to run various clinics and development programs. Brian has been to two of the strongest provinces already (Gauteng and Mpumalanga), and also spend a lot of time with the National Coaching Staff and the national team, The Rhinos. He has also been doing coach and match official training. The results of the training was evident this past weekend when the Panthers (Mpumalanga) met the Bulls (Gauteng) and the match was a thrilling encounter with the Panthers narrowly beating the Bulls in a game that saw the lead change more than 5 times. Brian will now travel to Cape Town, and then back to the north of SA and spend additional time in the other provinces, as well as a few training camps with the Rhino’s to help them prepare for the upcoming test series against the British Community Lions. Kobus Botha, president of SARL, was full of praise for the program: “It is imperative that SARL invests in its coaches, match officials and players through top level coaching. With the excellent support we have been getting from the AsiaPacific Rugby League Association and the RLIF, along with support from the NRL, we are now able to do just that. This extended coaching program is the start of a long term coaching and match official development initiative that we already see yielding positive results” Brian Griege from Australia (RLIF / NRL / Asian Pacific Conference) has been busy mentoring and coaching various clubs in Mpumalanga during the past 3 weeks. During his stay - he will also be assisting the Coaches and Referees in Gauteng and Western Cape as well as assist the Rhinos Development with specific aim for next years WC Qualifiers. Below are some snapshots of his visit to Mpumalanga Panthers region to date. The SARL Provincial Final (Jan Prinsloo Cup) was hosted at Tuks Groenkloof Campus on 22 February 2014. The game was played with the same high-intensive spirit as with the last encounter between the two provincial teams. As a typical final, both teams did not allow the other team to get much freedom on the pitch. Tackles were typical rugby league style – group tackling of quality. Under footing was heavy due to the past few day’s raining in Pretoria and the humidity started to show it’s effect with players showing signs of cramping in the second half.
The Northern Bulls came out victorious with the final score 26 – 4 at the sound of the final hooter. Scoring First Half- Nardus Raubenheimer (Northern Bulls) open the scoreboard for the day which Jean Coetzer converted. Score: Northern Bulls 6 – 0 MP Panthers. The Panthers then hit back by scoring their first unconverted try by the right wing, Mtzwake Fransman. Score: Northern Bulls 6 – 4 MP Panthers. Peet V/d Merwe (Northern Bulls) scored the next unconverted try on the left wing. Score: Northern Bulls 10 – 4 MP Panthers. Second Half- After the break Juan Greenberg (Northern Bulls) on replacement wing scored the third try that was converted by Jean Coetzer. Score: Northern Bulls 16 – 4 MP Panthers. Steynberg Van Zyl (Northern Bulls) kept his habit warm by scoring the fourth try. Score: Northern Bulls 20 – 4 MP Panthers. Captain Courages - Allen Kasselman (Northern Bulls) nailed the last try that Piet (Chuck) de Jager converted. Final Score: Northern Bulls 26 – 4 MP Panthers Yellow Card: Nardus Raubenheimer (Northern Bulls). Man of the Match: (As nominated by the Opposition) Northern Bulls: Jean-Pierre Nel MP Panthers: Samuel Schmidt Match Officials Referee: Rudolf du Plooy Line 1: Warren Pretorius Line 2: Henry Warrington Match Commissioner: AJ Barnard  Panthers vs Northern Bulls
Venue: A.J.Swanepoel Stadium Ermelo. Referee: Warren Pretorius Score: Panthers 16 Northern Bulls 18 Half Time Score: Panthers 10 Northern Bulls 6 Tries Scored: 1st Half Panthers: Danie Strydom : Wayne Burger Northern Bulls : Rupert Wells 2nd Half Panthers: Waldo Nelson Northern Bulls: CP Louw, Hein Pretorius Goal Kicks 1st Half Panthers Christo Nelson Northern Bulls Jean Coetzer 2nd Half Panthers Christo Nelson Northern Bulls Jean Coetzer X 2 Man of the Match: Panthers Waldo Nelson Northern Bulls Jean Coetzer Yellow Card: Panthers Waldo Nelson Northern Bulls Riaan Laidlaw Red Card: None  Match started at 17.010hr and Had to be played under lights as it got dark with a threatening storm.
Game ended at 19.03hrs Try scorers were Panthers: Jean-Di Oosthuysen X 2 … 1st half X 1 : 2nd half X 1: Etienne Booysen X 1 … 2nd half X 1 : Eagles Reyno Steenberg X 1 … 1st half X 1 : Antonio Morellis X 1 … 2nd half X 1 : Goal scorers were Panthers Christo Nelson X 2 … 1st half X 1 : 2nd half X 1: Eagles Reyno Steenberg X 1 … 1st half X 1 : Man-Of-The-Match Panthers No: 8 Waldo Nelson Eagles No: 17 Dries vd Merwe No Yellow or Red cards. Remarks: The game was played with much enthusiasm and vigour. The hits were hard and both teams did not want to give either the leeway. The standard of play was good most of the time Each team took it’s opportunity when the other team made a mistake. The discipline was good and no yellow or red cards were given. Txs John Oosthuysen Panthers Team Manager |