DHL Western Province scored four tries in their 31-23 bonus-point victory against the Steval Pumas at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
DHL Western Province scored four tries in their 31-23 bonus-point victory against the Steval Pumas at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
Three tries in the second half saw the home side return to winning ways, bagging a vital five log points with two rounds left to play before the Currie Cup semifinals.
The visitors struck first through an early drop-goal from flyhalf Francois Brummer, and it would take another 15 minutes before DHL Western Province were able to draw level with a penalty from Robert du Preez.
The first try of the match came soon afterwards as Huw Jones burst into the 22 after getting an offload from Nizaam Carr, and right wing Werner Kok was on hand to socre in the corner and make it 10-3 once converted by Du Preez.
The Steval Pumas responded with a penalty from Brummer, and that was the end of the scoring in the first half, as DHL Western Province took a 10-6 advantage into the half-time break.
DHL Western Province camped in the opposition 22 at the start of the second half, which eventually resulted in a yellow card for Steval Pumas replacement prop Dee-Jay Terblanche for repeated infringements from his team.
DHL Western Province were reduced to 14 men themselves shortly afterwards when flank Stefan Willemse was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle.
The first points of the second half came soon afterwards as the ball was worked wide to Jones who stepped inside a series of defenders to score under the poles.
The Steval Pumas hit back immediately as the ball was sent out to left wing JP Lewis who scored in the corner to reduce the DHL Western Province lead to 17-11.
DHL Western Province scored their third try with 10 minutes left to play as Leolin Zas showed good awareness to pick up at the base of a ruck and dart over.
The bonus point was wrapped up soon afterwards after a good run from Kok saw lock Jan de Klerk crash over the tryline.
The Steval Pumas would have the final say with late tries from replacement Tyler Fisher and captain Renaldo Bothma, but it was not enough as DHL Western Province picked up a full house of five log points for their efforts.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Kok, Jones, Zas, De Klerk
Cons: Du Preez 4
Pen: Du Preez
For Steval Pumas:
Tries: Lewis, Fisher, Bothma
Con: Williams
Pen: Brummer
DG: Brummer
DHL Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Werner Kok, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Kobus van Dyk, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Chris van Zyl (captain), 4 Jan de Klerk, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Mike Willemse, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Neil Rautenbach, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 JP Smith, 19 Jurie van Vuuren, 20 Jacques Vermeulen, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Scott van Breda.
Steval Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Ruwellyn Isbel, 13 Hoffmann Maritz, 12 Hennie Skorbinski, 11 JP Lewis, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Emile Temperman, 8 Renaldo Bothma (captain), 7 Lambert Groenewald, 6 Brian Shabangu, 5 Jannie Stander, 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Louis Albertse, 2 Frankie Herne, 1 Kwezi Mona.
Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Dee-Jay Terblanche, 18 Hugo Kloppers, 19 Carel Greeff, 20 Kevin Luiters, 21 Heinrich Steyl, 22 Tyler Fisher.
