Mossel Bay – Western Province (WP) A and Joburg Squash A produced a fitting start to the Growthpoint Jarvis-Kaplan Interprovincial tournament in Mossel Bay.
The 2024 champions edged their Gauteng rivals 15-8 in a thrilling opening-day encounter.
The clash on Monday, 6 July 2026, typical of South Africa’s premier provincial team competition, was played at a high intensity throughout as both sides looked to lay down an early marker in the race for the women’s Kaplan Cup title.
WP made the brighter start, with Cassandra Erasmus and Bianca Besener each recording victories to give their team a 2-0 advantage.
Joburg responded impressively. Kate Rowe kept her side in the contest with a hard-fought victory over Nicole Gliddon in one of the matches of the day.
Leading 2-1 and 10-6 in the fourth game, Rowe looked set for a comfortable finish, but Gliddon mounted a spirited comeback to level at 10-10 before Rowe finally held her nerve to claim the next two points and the match.
Elske Garbers then levelled the tie with a convincing 3-0 win over Katie Mayhew, leaving the outcome to the battle between the two No 1 players, Teagan Russell for Joburg and Kim McDonald for Western Province, with the bonus five points at stake.
Apart from an emphatic 11-1 third game won by McDonald, the contest was a captivating duel between two of South Africa’s leading players.
Russell edged a tense opening game 13-11 before McDonald levelled the match and then moved 2-1 ahead.
The WP star looked set to seal victory when she led 10-7 in the fourth, but a combination of a few loose shots and Russell’s determined defence saw the score tied at 10-10.
The tension mounted as McDonald squandered seven match points before finally converting her eighth opportunity when Russell pushed a return out of court, securing the match and the valuable bonus points for Western Province.
Meanwhile, defending Kaplan Cup champions Capital Fruit SA Country Districts (SACD) A opened their title defence in dominant fashion, overwhelming their B side 20-1 to set the early pace in the competition.
In the men’s Jarvis Cup, the corresponding WP-Joburg Squash also went down to the wire as the players’ competitive instincts kicked in during an absorbing battle for supremacy.
It eventually boiled down to the No 1s with the contest poised at two matches each, and WP’s Ruan Olivier held his nerve in a terrific fightback to win in five after trailing John Anderson 2-0.
The experienced Olivier slowly clawed his way back into the contest, and once he levelled at 2-2, he rode that momentum to build a solid 10-5 lead in the fifth. Although Anderson saw off two match points, the WP man would not be denied and finished it off by taking the decider 11-7.
Earlier, Joburg Squash No 5 Amukelani Zitha pulled off a critical comeback after trailing 18-year-old Joseph Feast 2-0.
Feast had a golden opportunity to put his opponent away when he led 10-7 in the fourth game, but Zitha came charging back, won the next five points to level the match and then stepped on the gas to take the decider 11-5 for a 3-2 win.
However, Devon Osborne levelled matters for WP when he defeated Ethan Robinson 3-1 in another rugged encounter, leaving Olivier and Anderson to battle it out for the bragging rights.
In other action, the top seeded men’s teams, Capital Fruit SACD A and Northerns A, cruised comfortably to victory against Capital Fruit SACD B and Eastern Province A respectively.
Monday’s results were:
Women’s Kaplan Cup
WP A bt Joburg Squash 15-8 (WP A first): Kim McDonald bt Teagan Russell 3-1 (11-13 15-13 11-1 16-14), Katie Mayhew lost to Elske Garbers 3-0 (11-8 11-7 11-4), Cassandra Erasmus bt Gill van Vlaanderen 3-1 (11-13 12-10 11-1 11-4), Bianca Besener bt Bongi Seroto 3-0 (11-5 11-6 11-4), Nicole Gliddon lost to Kate Rowe 3-1 (11-5 11-5 9-11 12-10).
Capital Fruit SACD A bt Capital Fruit SACD B 20-1 (SACD A first): Lizelle Muller bt Kyla Hartzenberg 3-0 (11-2 11-4 11-4), Alexa Pienaar bt Rachel Cilliers 3-1 (11-6 11-4 7-11 11-4), Keschia Schlebusch bt Hanrie Duits 3-0 (11-1 11-7 11-3), Bianke Pienaar bt Leandri van Onselen 3-0 (11-8 11-5 11-3), Chante Leppan bt Madjone Engelbrecht 3-0 (11-5 11-5 13-11).
Men’s Jarvis Cup
Capital Fruit SACD A bt Capital Fruit SACD B 20-1 (SACD A first): Dewald van Niekerk bt Jonty Matthys 3-0 (11-5 11-4 11-1), Reuel Videler bt Christian Swanepoel 3-0 (11-2 11-3 11-4), JP Brits bt Luke van Vuuren 3-1 (6-11 11-6 13-11 11-7), Gareth Craigen bt Jimmy Schlebusch 3-0 (11-4 11-6 11-5), Rudi van Niekerk bt Alwyn Venter 3-0 (11-5 11-6 11-4).
Northerns A bt EP A 20-3 (Northerns A first): Damian Groenewald bt Dean Venter 3-0 (11-9 11-6 11-9), Luhann Groenewald bt Gerard Mitchell 3-0 (11-6 11-6 11-2), Judah Phillips bt Lawrence Kuhn 3-2 (6-11 11-8 11-9 5-11 11-3), Jarrod Cousins bt Siphelele Mpini 3-1 (11-5 9-11 11-8 11-8), Connor Earl bt Jason le Roux 3-0 (11-4 11-1 11-9).
WP A bt Joburg Squash A 17-10 (WP A first): Ruan Olivier bt John Anderson 3-2 (10-12 9-11 11-8 11-9 11-7), Devon Osborne bt Ethan Robinson 3-1 (11-9 11-4 6-11 12-10), Mighael Lombard lost to Christo Potgieter 3-1 (6-11 11-8 11-4 11-4), Daniel Cloete bt Jordan Wilkinson 3-1 (7-11 11-7 11-5 11-8), Joseph Feast lost to Amukelani Zitha 3-2 (7-11 7-11 11-4 12-10 11-5)
The A section teams are:
Women: 1 Northerns A, 2 Capital Fruit SACD A, 3 Joburg Squash A, 4 Western Province A, 5 Capital Fruit SACD B.
Men: 1 Capital Fruit SACD A, 2 Northerns A, 3 Western Province A, 4 Joburg Squash A, 5 Eastern Province A, 6 Capital Fruit SACD B.
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