{"id":5488,"date":"2026-05-08T10:48:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/?p=5488"},"modified":"2026-05-08T10:48:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:48:48","slug":"sa-hockey-ipt-2026-semi-finalists-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/sa-hockey-ipt-2026-semi-finalists-confirmed\/","title":{"rendered":"SA Hockey IPT 2026 | Semi Finalists Confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">The group stages reached their conclusion on Thursday at the South African Hockey IPT in Johannesburg. The semi-final line-up is now confirmed, while the relegation battle is equally set as teams discovered the fate of their remaining battles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Header Image: Marcel Sigg<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">In the men\u2019s tournament, Western Province secured top spot in Pool A with a resounding victory over KZN Raiders. Both sides had already qualified for the semi-finals, which perhaps took a little edge out of the contest. Niel <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Raath<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> continued his prolific scoring run, while Kenton Melville, Carlon <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Mentoor<\/span><span class=\"s4\">, <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Luthando<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Jonas and Damian Knott all added goals in a comfortable one-sided victory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Northerns<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Blues and SG <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Witsies<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> were locked in a battle for third place in the pool and, with it, the \u201ceasier\u201d relegation playoff. They produced a gripping contest that swung both ways, but neither side could find the breakthrough. That was until the 59th minute when <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Keanan<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Wax looked to have won it for <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Witsies<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> with a dramatic late strike. The Blues, however, surged forward one final time and <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Ruard<\/span> <span class=\"s4\">Booysen<\/span><span class=\"s4\">snatched an equaliser with the final play of the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">WP Peninsula needed victory against Eastern Province to secure a semi-final place and twice found themselves staring down the barrel in the second half. They trailed to the free-scoring Sachin <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Paydachee<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> before their own leading scorer James Flint levelled matters. At the end of the third quarter they were behind again as Kian Camber restored the EP lead. But Peninsula dug deep and goals from Daniel <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Bruyns<\/span><span class=\"s4\">and Thomas Sickle completed a remarkable comeback to seal a semi-final berth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Southern Gauteng secured top spot in their pool with a hard-fought victory over Free State. The Free State side came out firing and tested the favourites throughout. Despite trailing to a Gerald <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Mpopo<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> strike, they found a leveller in the final five minutes. They could not hold on though, as Liam Hermanus stole the winner to preserve Southern Gauteng\u2019s perfect record.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Men\u2019s 5\u20138 Playoffs<\/span><span class=\"s4\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">09:00 \u2013 <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Northerns<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Blues vs Eastern Province<\/span><span class=\"s4\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">11:00 \u2013 Free State vs SG <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Witsies<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><strong><span class=\"s4\">Men\u2019s Semi-Finals<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s4\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">15:00 \u2013 Western Province vs WP Peninsula<\/span><span class=\"s4\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">19:00 \u2013 Southern Gauteng vs KZN Raiders<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">North West took on KZN Raiders in a virtual quarter-final early on Thursday. They got the perfect start through Jasmin Kelly in the 11th minute, but neither side could add to the score before half-time. Early in the second half Cerian Fourie levelled matters, <\/span><span class=\"s4\">before Emily Wilson restored the North West lead late in the third quarter. <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Charne<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> de Wet added the insurance goal late on to secure North West\u2019s place in the semi-finals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Northerns<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Blues were far too strong for Eastern Province, recording a remarkable 11-0 victory. A brace from Angele Vogel was supported by nine different goal scorers as the Blues attack repeatedly broke through. Laiken Brisset, Edith Molikoe, Emily Macquet, <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Lenique<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Vogel, Cassandra Forbes, Ntsopa Mokoena, <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Caylinn<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> den Bakker, Nicola Forbes and Anja Tromp all found the back of the net in an emphatic performance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Western Province made it three wins from three as the defending champions continued their dominant form. <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Charne<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Maddocks, Rebecca <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Kaps<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> and Ashleigh Thomas all scored as WP Peninsula settled for fourth place in Pool B.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Southern Gauteng had already secured a semi-final spot before taking on Free State, but they still delivered another commanding performance. Paris-Gail Isaacs and <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Tamlyn<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Kock scored either side of a Bianca Wood hat-trick, before Hayley <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Kilfoil<\/span><span class=\"s4\">added further gloss to the <\/span><span class=\"s4\">scoreline<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> as <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Southerns<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> completed the group stage in style.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><span class=\"s4\">Women\u2019s 5\u20138 Playoffs<\/span><span class=\"s4\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">09:00 \u2013 Free State vs WP Peninsula<\/span><span class=\"s4\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">11:00 \u2013 KZN Raiders vs Eastern Province<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s5\"><strong><span class=\"s4\">Women\u2019s Semi-Finals<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s4\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">13:00 \u2013 <\/span><span class=\"s4\">Northerns<\/span><span class=\"s4\"> Blues vs North West<\/span><span class=\"s4\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">17:00 \u2013 Western Province vs Southern Gauteng<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s6\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The group stages reached their conclusion on Thursday at the South African Hockey IPT in Johannesburg. The semi-final line-up is now confirmed, while the relegation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/sa-hockey-ipt-2026-semi-finalists-confirmed\/\" class=\"btn btn-link continue-link\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5488","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\/5488","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=5488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5490,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5488\/revisions\/5490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}