DHL Western Province opened their 2013 Vodacom Cup campaign with a 17-17 draw against the Boland Cavaliers in Ceres on Saturday afternoon.

The visiting DHL WP side were first on the scoreboard when flanker Chris Cloete crashed over in the sixth minute, with flyhalf Kurt Coleman missing the conversion.

Boland equalised, and then went ahead, when hooker Chris Buckle scored in the 10th minute – Ricardo Croy”s conversion making it 7-5 to the home side.

DHL WP took the lead when speedster Devon Williams – on his Vodacom Cup debut – scored for the visitors in the 22nd minute and, after another missed conversion by Coleman, WP led 10-7 which also happened to be the half-time score.

Crucially, however, WP lost flanker Cloete to an injury in the 33rd minute and with the contest on the floor being a tough one, it allowed Boland some more time on the ball at the breakdown in some crucial collisions.

The second half was a tightly-contested affair, with Boland being a man down when centre Albert Trytsman was sin-binned in the 51st minute, but the hosts levelled things at the start of the final quarter when fullback Jacquin Jansen popped over a penalty (10-10).

Boland were next to score through captain and prop Ashton Constant, with Jansen converting, handing them a handy 17-10 lead with just seven minutes on the clock.

But this online casino DHL WP team is a plucky outfit and the players refused to lie down going into the final five minutes.

Their patience, and that of their coach John Dobson, was rewarded when replacement Jody Reyneke rumbled over from a powerful maul just three minutes from time and Boland”s Buckle was yellow-carded in the process too (for a professional foul).

Gary van Aswegen had replaced Coleman at flyhalf in the 51st minute but had his first shot at goal in the 78th minute only – to convert Reyneke”s try – and he made no mistake with the pressure-filled kick to make it 17-17.

WP won a scrum from the restart, as Boland had a player in front of the kicker, but the game ended almost immediately after as the livewire Cheslin Kolbe was dragged into touch to snuff out any hope of a dramatic triumph for the visitors.

The scorers:

For the Boland Cavaliers:

Tries: Buckle, Constant

Cons: Croy, Jansen

Pen: Jansen

For Western Province:
Tries: Cloete, Williams, Reyneke
Con: Van Aswegen