It wasn't the result he wanted, but DHL Western Province head coach John Dobson says his young side is 'better for the experience' after their 2013 Vodacom Cup opener at the weekend.

Dobson”s charges played to a 17-17 draw in Ceres against the Boland Cavaliers, the Bolanders having opted to take the game to their community in front of a packed crowd at Victoria Park.

“It was a wonderful occasion, although somewhat tempered by the result nobody likes. Having said that I think it was probably a fair reflection,” said Dobson, after WP outscored Boland by three tries to two on the day.

DHL WP scored the first try on Saturday, through debutant flanker Chris Cloete (in the sixth minute), before speedster Devon Williams – also on debut – touched down later in the first stanza to hand the visitors a 10-7 half-time lead.

Boland, after drawing level in the 61st minute, led 17-10 seven minutes from full-time, before nbso online casino reviews replacement forward Jody Reyneke crashed over from a rolling maul – with back-up flyhalf Gary van Aswegen coolly converting the try – to equalise at 17-17.

Dobson admitted: “It was a great experience for our youngsters and some of them admitted to me afterwards that they had found it a bit of a wake-up call.

“But this team is a big investment in the future of WP Rugby. Also what people tend to forget that we are the most amateur team in our competition, on Saturday we had nine “amateur” club players.

“I was disappointed that we did not stick to our plan and get the ball through the phases – we were very poor at this and that”s why we didn”t win,” added the WP boss.

“But we are a better team for the experience… although we will have to be several notches better to compete with a powerful Sharks team on Saturday.”

DHL WP”s second Vodacom Cup match of the season is against the Sharks XV at City Park, this Saturday at 15h30.

Gates open at 13h00 at City Park. Tickets will be priced at R10 person and R10 per car.