Cavemen and Bunters first champions

IN the end consistency triumphed over sporadic form when it came to deciding the men’s and women’s champions of the inaugural Premier Hockey League – PHL, with the Maropeng Cavemen, men’s title, and Blyde River Bunters, women’s title, emerging with those titles respectively on Sunday, September 25.

Going into the final day of the tournament, the Cavemen had done well in all but the penultimate weekend of the competition, where they lost both their games. But they were still considered easily one of the teams to beat in the competition, which they proved by smothering an Addo Elephants side bristling with intent 2-0 in the final.

For their part, the Bunters were as clinical as they were big on desire in their performance against the Rangers. The game frequently saw them soaking up pressure from the Rangers, rabidly defending their line and punishing their opponents every time they got into their territory with a goal.

And so in the end it was strikes by Mmamoagi Kungoane, Kaydee Miller and Charne Hill that took them to a 3-0 lead by the 37th minute and left them with the relatively simple job of keeping the Rangers at arm’s length to win the coveted title.

In the bronze matches, the Garden Route Gazelles, men’s category, had to be content with finishing third after beating the South Africa u.21 side, playing here as the Golden Gate Gladiators, 3-1.

The Wings, who have lost a staggering four shootouts in this tournament, finally got some luck in the form of a game that didn’t go into the dreaded shootout, winning their game against the St Lucia Lakers 3-2 to take the third spot in the women’s category.