DHL Western Province fought back bravely, but went down 31-24 in their Carling Currie Cup clash with the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

The home side had the early ascendency and scored first through wing Cohen Jasper who dotted down in the corner and then converted himself.

DHL Western Province got on the scoreboard with a penalty from Jurie Matthee, but the Free State side responded with a second try, scored by flank Mihlali Mosi.

The visitors hung in and applied the pressure at the end of the first half, with Shilton van Wyk finishing their opening try after Damian Markus had found Louw Nel with a deft offload.

That saw DHL Western Province go into the break trailing 12-10 and the game in the balance heading into the second half.

The hosts came up with a double-strike at the start of the second half, as first wing Banie Britz and then lock Juan Venter scored to make it 24-10.

Loose forward Neels Volschenk was next to score for the Toyota Cheetahs, but DHL Western Province eventually hit back as replacement Jared Africa scored in the corner after some hard work up front from the forwards.

They kept fighting and were back within range when replacement loose forward Enos Ndiao scored from a maul with 10 minutes left.

DHL Western Province pushed hard until the final whistle, but were unable to come up with another try and ultimately finished with one bonus point to show for their efforts.

The scorers:

For Toyota Cheetahs:
Tries: Jasper, Mosi, Britz, Venter, Volschenk
Cons: Jasper 3

For DHL WP:
Tries: Van Wyk, Africa, Ndiao
Cons: Matthee, Leyds 2
Pen: Matthee

DHL Western Province: 15 Tristan Leyds, 14 Shilton van Wyk, 13 Gino Cupido, 12 Damian Markus, 11 Joel Leotlela, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Louw Nel, 7 Riley Norton, 6 Gideon van Wyk, 5 Gary Porter (captain), 4 Alex Groves, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Mhleli Khuzwayo.
Replacements: 16 Luca Bakkes, 17 Oliver Reid, 18 Herman Lubbe, 19 Adam de Waal, 20 Enos Ndiao, 21 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 22 Luke Burger, 23 Jared Africa.