John Dobson, DHL WP’s Vodacom Cup coach, was a much happier man after his side’s 28-17 bonus-point win over the ICBC Pampas XV at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

Western Province picked up a third successive win of 2013 – following on from with victories over the EP Kings and Border – to keep their title race well and truly alive.

At this stage of the season, after five matches, DHL WP (with 17 points) are in second place on the South Section log – sandwiched in between the Pampas (16 pts) and the unbeaten Sharks (23 pts).

“I thought that, given the disruptions, this was one of our better wins against a very good Pampas side,” said Dobson after WP’s four-tries-to-three victory. “We know that they are a quality team, especially having seen their demolition of Boland the week before.”

It certainly wasn’t all plain-sailing for Dobson’s charges on Saturday, as they trailed 5-12 at half-time and 5-17 shortly after the break, and the coach admitted: “At 5-17 down it was looking like a long afternoon but as soon as we stopped turning ball over, we were pretty compelling.

“I was thrilled with our scrums against such a strong scrumming team and I thought our maul was good against a very physical maul defence. Our breakdown was the best yet which meant our attack was better – but I was disappointed with the amount of missed tackles on the day.

“We have made progress as a team over the past ten days,” he added, “and we hope to continue this against the SWD Eagles on Saturday if we are to make sure of a home play-off position.”

Province will be playing their next Vodacom Cup game against the SWD Eagles, at Helderberg RFC in Strand on Saturday afternoon. The match will get underway at 15h30 – entry is R10 per adult and car, and R5/scholar.

The DHL WP team, to face the Eagles, will be announced on Thursday.