Umhlali Impis return with provincial colours

Three Umhlali Impis returned from Johannesburg with provincial colours and experience playing on a national stage.

Nic White, Linda Mthiyane and Jaimie Fisher all represented KwaZulu-Natal at the recent men’s outdoor hockey inter-provincial tournament at St Stithian’s, which ended on Saturday.

White played for the KZN Raiders, who competed in the ‘A’ section of the tournament. The Raiders started hot and went through the group stages unbeaten, registering two wins and a draw. It qualified them for the knockout stage and they were drawn against the Northern Blues, who had claimed a solitary win in their group stage.

But the momentum proved of little importance when it mattered and the Blues played a blinder to win 3-2. That took the Raiders out of medal contention and all that was left was to play for final placing. A comfortable 7-0 win against the South Gauteng Witsies put them into the 5th and 6th play-off against Western Province Peninsula, who won 5-2 to claim fifth.

South Africa U21 won the tournament.

Mthiyane and Fisher represented KZN Mynahs in the ‘B’ section of the tournament, which was played in a league format. They too started with two wins and a draw to lay a perfect platform for the business end of the tournament. Their fourth game pitted them against Free State, in what would prove to be a crucial decider.

The Mynahs scored first, but would eventually relinquish the lead in an ill-disciplined match that included six green cards and four yellows. That loss dropped the Mynahs to third and left them to face the South Gauteng Nuggets for third place overall. It was not to be for the men from KZN as they lost 3-1 and finished fourth overall.
South African Country Districts claimed the overall title.

Find full results at saha.altiusrt.com.

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