DHL Western Province fought hard at Ellis Park, but went down 40-19 in their Carling Currie Cup encounter with the Fidelity ADT Lions on Saturday.

The visitors made a strong start, with No.8 Louw Nel crossing the whitewash early from an impressive maul.

From there the home side took control, with tries from flyhalf Lubabalo Dobela and wing Rabz Maxwane scored either side of a penalty try, which saw DHL Western Province prop Sti Sithole shown a yellow card.

To their credit, DHL Western Province kept fighting and they were rewarded with a second try as loose forward Gideon van Wyk forced his way over from close range on the stroke of half-time.

After a strong start to the second half from the visitors, the Fidelity ADT lions absorbed the pressure and were instead first to score after half-time with No.8 WJ Steenkamp bursting over for the bonus point try.

DHL Western Province refused to go away and were right back in it when Nel scored his second maul try from a well-worked line-out move in the 22.

The home team hit back with two maul tries from captain Jaco Visagie which sealed the win.

The scorers:

For Fidelity ADT Lions:
Tries: Dobela, penalty try, Maxwane, Steenkamp, Visagie 2
Cons: Dobela 4

For DHL WP:
Tries: Nel 2, Van Wyk
Cons: Smith 2

DHL Western Province: 15 Shilton van Wyk, 14 Sako Makata, 13 Luke Burger, 12 Damian Markus, 11 Jared Africa, 10 Kyle Smith, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Louw Nel, 7 Gideon van Wyk, 6 Zain Davids (captain), 5 Gary Porter, 4 Alex Groves, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Sti Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Lukhanyo Vokozela, 17 Mhleli Khuzwayo, 18 Arno Gustafson, 19 Andre Goedhals, 20 Erhard Lambrecht, 21 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 22 Gino Cupido, 23 Tristan Leyds.