{"id":5482,"date":"2026-05-06T05:58:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T03:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/?p=5482"},"modified":"2026-05-06T05:58:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T03:58:56","slug":"sa-hockey-ipt-2026-opening-day-delivers-fire-goals-and-intent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/sa-hockey-ipt-2026-opening-day-delivers-fire-goals-and-intent\/","title":{"rendered":"SA Hockey IPT 2026 | Opening Day Delivers Fire, Goals and Intent"},"content":{"rendered":"

The SA Hockey Senior IPT A Section burst into life on Tuesday as the country\u2019s top provincial sides opened their campaigns at the University of Johannesburg and <\/span>Ho\u00ebrskool<\/span>Linden, with early statements made across both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tournaments.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image credit: Marcel Sigg<\/em><\/p>\n

In Women\u2019s Pool A, North West started strongly with a 3-1 win over WP Peninsula. Jasmin Kelly opened the scoring in the seventh minute from a penalty corner before Isabella Booyens levelled with a drag flick. The game remained tight until <\/span>Lize<\/span> Claasens<\/span> restored North West\u2019s lead late in the third quarter, reacting brilliantly to finish from a tight angle. <\/span>Thabelani<\/span> Metu then sealed the result in the 59th minute, capitalising on Peninsula\u2019s high line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Western Province delivered one of the standout performances of the day, brushing aside KZN Raiders 7-0. Brady Wiseman and Caprice <\/span>Bengston<\/span> struck early before a Highveld thunderstorm delayed the contest for an hour. On the restart, <\/span>Caylin<\/span> Maree and Daniella de Oliveira Mendes extended the advantage before half-time. <\/span>Charne<\/span> Maddocks, Onge Mali and Kayla de Waal added further goals after the break as Province laid down a serious opening-day marker.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Women\u2019s Pool B, <\/span>Northerns<\/span> Blues made a flying start with a 5-1 win over Free State. Laiken Brisset scored inside the opening two minutes after a high turnover, before Anja Tromp doubled the lead and Emily Macquet converted from the penalty spot. Andrea van Bosch pulled one back for Free State, but <\/span>Hanrie<\/span> Louw and Olympian Ntsopa Mokoena restored complete control before half-time. Remarkably, the 5-1 half-time score remained unchanged.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hosts Southern Gauteng dismantled the challenge of Eastern Province netting five unanswered goals<\/span>, only one of which came in the first half through Olympian Hannah Pearce. Their second half surge, despite a lightning delay and in pouring rain, <\/span>Tamlyn<\/span> Kock, <\/span>Teshawn<\/span>de la Rey, Bianca Wood and Amber <\/span>Fairon<\/span> added to the pain for the visiting province in a big statement victory <\/span><\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s tournament, KZN Raiders opened their Pool A campaign with an impressive 3-1 victory over <\/span>Northerns<\/span> Blues. Tyler <\/span>Tomsett<\/span>, fresh from his SA Indoor call-up, struck from a fourth-minute penalty corner to give Raiders the perfect start. <\/span>Veeshan<\/span> Govender and <\/span>Tomsett<\/span>added further goals in the second half before Richard Porter pulled one back, but Raiders held firm to secure the points.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defending champions Western Province also started positively, beating SG Wits 5-2. <\/span>Phiwayinkosi<\/span> Dlamini gave Wits an early lead, but Carlon <\/span>Mentoor<\/span> responded almost immediately. Brett Horn and Niel <\/span>Raath<\/span> then pushed Province into a 3-1 lead before Horn added another after the break. <\/span>Keanan<\/span> Wax kept Wits alive with a second, but <\/span>Mentoor<\/span> struck late to seal a strong opening win.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Men\u2019s Pool B, WP Peninsula overcame Free State 4-2, powered by a sensational first-quarter hat-trick from James Flint. The Peninsula forward scored twice inside the opening four minutes before completing his treble in the 15th. Daniel <\/span>Bruyns<\/span> made it 4-0 in the final quarter <\/span>before Free State finished strongly through Tevin <\/span>Kok<\/span> and Ross Breytenbach, adding respectability to the <\/span>scoreline<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rounding off the day was an impressive victory for Southern Gauteng against Eastern Province, battering them 5-0. Jamie Seale and <\/span>Dalpiarro<\/span> Langford scored first half goals while Sihle Ngubane, Liam Hermanus and Cameron le Forestier continued their dancing in the torrential rain, metaphorically raining in the goals themselves for a big opening day smash. <\/span><\/p>\n

The opening day delivered goals, drama, weather delays and early intent, setting the tone for what promises to be a fiercely contested week of provincial hockey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The SA Hockey Senior IPT A Section burst into life on Tuesday as the country\u2019s top provincial sides opened their campaigns at the University of Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5484,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5482\/revisions\/5484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}