DHL Western Province U19 suffered their first defeat of the season as they went down 22-19 against Vodacom Blue Bulls U19 at City Park on Saturday.
It was a hard-fought battle with the lead changing hands throughout, but the Pretoria side did just enough to claim a tough win.
The visitors struck first as flyhalf Xander Kruger went over out wide and then converted his own try to put them 7-0 up, but they were reduced to 14 men shortly afterwards when No.8 Ewart Potgieter was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle.
The home side took advantage straight away as hooker Schalk Erasmus got over for two quick tries, first crashing over from a maul and then powering his way through a tackle next to the poles to make it 12-7.
The Vodacom Blue Bulls U19 went back in front with a try from replacement Theo Boshoff who converted it himself to put them 14-12 up at the half-time break.
DHL Western Province were back in front when wing Mike Mavovana got over for a try out wide which gave them a 19-14 advantage once converted by Lyle Hendricks.
The visitors were back on level terms soon afterwards with a try from their captain JC Pretorius and took the lead back with a penalty from Boshoff which made it 22-19.
DHL Western Province U19 threw everything at their opponents in the final stages in a desperate attempt to snatch a late victory, but it was not to be as they went down for the first time this year.
The scorers:
For DHL WP U19:
Tries: Erasmus 2, Mavovana
Cons: Hendricks 2
For Vodacom Blue Bulls U19:
Tries: Kruger, Boshoff, Pretorius
Cons: Kruger, Boshoff
Pen: Boshoff
DHL Western Province U19: 15 Marco Labuschagne, 14 Christian Geutang, 13 Lubelo Scott, 12 Lyle Hendricks, 11 Mike Mavovana, 10 Wian van Zyl, 9 Labib Kannemeyer, 8 Muller Uys, 7 Shaine Orderson, 6 Regardt du Plessis, 5 BJ Dixon, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Schalk Erasmus, 1 Leon Lyons.
Replacements: 16 Liam Larkan, 17 Reece Bezuidenhout, 18 Adam Neethling, 19 Jesse Johnson, 20 Charl Serdyn, 21 Deon Carstens, 22 Francke Botha, 23 Sako Makata.
