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South Africa

Pretoria University and Saints of Johannesburg emerged as the men's and women's hockey champions respectively when the national club championships were concluded at the Gelvan astro in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.


Tukkies took an early grip on the men's final against Durban Institute of Technology with two penalty corner goals by Ian Symons in the first 10 minutes to eventually win 4-2, while Saints defeated Tukkies women in their final 2-0.

The Tukkies men were full value for their victory after those early strikes, with the Durban team always struggling to get back on level terms.

Mike Cullen did manage to pull one back in the 13th minute, but after halftime, the Pretoria varsity went further ahead with two goals in three minutes, by Thornton McDade and Craig Fulton.

In the final minute, Durban's Darren Gallagher made it 4-2 with an excellent field goal, but by that stage Tukkies were already in celebratory mode.

Saints finished the women's event strongly after losing their pool match 2-0 to Tukkies on Thursday. They outclassed Durban Institute 4-0 in Friday's semis and then had much the better of the game to defeat Tukkies in the final.

It was hard work, though, and it took them until well into the second half to open the scoring through Ali Dare, who took advantage to score after Tukkies failed to clear a short corner.

A short while later, Dare was on the receiving end after a fine Saints movement to score their second goal, effectively sealing Tukkies' fate.

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