Craven Week 2026 Day 3: Behardien Stuns Sharks After the Hooter

Day 3 of the 2026 FNB U18 Craven Week delivered the finish of the tournament so far — Western Province stealing a match they never led until the final kick — along with the week's first red card, a hat-trick from an outside centre, and Eastern Province's first win by the barest margin possible. Four matches at Grey High School in Gqeberha, and not one of them followed the script.

Western Province 24-22 Sharks: never in front until it mattered

The headline act came last. The Sharks led from the third minute, when hooker Theo Boshoff crashed over for the first of his two tries, and by the 55th minute they were 22-7 up and cruising after Lwazi Mbebe's try off the bench.

Then the wheels came off in the most dramatic way imaginable. Dominic du Toit was shown yellow on the hour, Mbebe followed him three minutes later, and Western Province smelt blood. A penalty try in the 63rd minute made it 14-22, and when lock Jean Dreyer powered over for his second try in the 68th, Achmat Behardien's conversion brought WP within one at 21-22.

The hooter sounded with the Sharks still ahead — but not with the ball dead. Awarded one final penalty, Behardien stepped up and calmly slotted it to complete a 24-22 heist. Western Province had trailed for 69 minutes and 59 seconds, and won. A third Sharks yellow, to Lwandile Mlaba after the hooter, summed up their unravelling: three cards in the final ten minutes of a match they had controlled from the start.

Behardien's seven-point evening lifts him to 24 points for the tournament — second only to Zachary Walbrugh on the leader board.

Leopards 57-14 Limpopo Blue Bulls: a hat-trick and a first red

The morning belonged to the Leopards, and specifically to Marques Jantjies. The outside centre ran in a hat-trick as his side piled up nine tries to two in a 57-14 win over Limpopo, with flyhalf Ricardo Enos landing six conversions to move to 22 tournament points.

The match also produced the tournament's first red card — Nicolas Dreyer, off the Leopards bench, was shown a 20-minute red two minutes into the second half. It barely slowed his team: already 31-7 up at the break, they scored 26 more points, most of them while a man short. Juan Dreyer crossed twice for Limpopo, whose fight never dimmed even as the scoreboard ran away.

Boland 31-32 Eastern Province: the hosts' union wins by one

Eastern Province claimed their first win of the week — and made it as agonising as possible for Boland. Level at 17-17 at the break in a five-tries-apiece contest, the match turned on discipline: Boland yellow cards to Simamkele Lahlekile (56') and Christoff Filmalter (63') opened the door, and Tristan Kemp's penalty and touchline conversion of Luke Doyle's try put EP 32-24 clear.

Boland still nearly stole it. Joniel Claasen scored in the 69th minute and Brent Leigh Exstraal converted after the hooter — but the comeback fell exactly one point short. Jaydan van Niekerk's try and two conversions took him to 20 tournament points, fourth on the overall list, in a losing cause.

Free State 38-26 SWD: 19 unanswered, and no Walbrugh needed

Free State rested tournament top scorer Zachary Walbrugh — he sat on the bench without scoring — and still found the firepower to put away a spirited SWD. Trailing 5-19 after 19 minutes, the Free Staters clawed level by half-time through Jonathan Drysdale and the first of fullback Lamla Mgedezi's two tries.

When Jacobus de Villiers restored SWD's lead at 26-19, Free State answered with 19 unanswered points: tries from AJ Hendriks, Eddie Mabena and stand-in flyhalf Samson Lackay, who finished with 13 points from his try and four conversions. Walbrugh's 31 points remain untouched at the top — earned in two matches, preserved in a third.

Day 3 in numbers

• 3 yellow cards for the Sharks in the final ten minutes against WP
• 1 red card — the tournament's first, to Leopards replacement Nicolas Dreyer
• 3 Dreyers in the day's stories: Juan (two tries for Limpopo), Nicolas (the red), and Jean (two tries and a famous WP win)
• 13 points for Samson Lackay deputising for Walbrugh at flyhalf
• 1 point — EP's winning margin for their first victory of the week

What's next: Day 4 at Grey High

Thursday brings four more pool matches: Griffons v Valke (10:00), Border v Pumas (11:45), Blue Bulls v Griquas (13:30) — the Bulls looking to bounce back from Tuesday's collapse against the Lions — and the headliner, Golden Lions v Western Province XV at 15:15, pitting Tuesday's two great comeback sides against each other. Live coverage of every match on the Craven Week hub.

Photo: Debi Botha / Speedshots.co.za