DHL Western Province coach Allister Coetzee was pleased with his team’s 36-23 bonus-point victory over the Golden Lions at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

Province, the defending Absa Currie Cup champions, outscored their opponents by four tries to two in Cape Town – the hosts scoring two tries in each half as they converted their 18-9 at half-time lead into a seventh win of the season.

Lock Michael Rhodes crashed over on the stroke of full-time to secure the four-try bonus, after earlier tries from Damian de Allende, Deon Fourie and Gerhard van den Heever, as DHL WP booked a home semifinal in the process.

“We're very satisfied with today. It's a good result for us against a good Lions team,” Coetzee told www.wprugby.com on Saturday evening.

“We put ourselves under unnecessary pressure at times, but I was pleased with how we got out of it.

“We need to play for 80 minutes – that will be important come the semifinals, when mistakes (like we made today) cannot be tolerated.

“We're the only unbeaten team in the competition and the bonus point has come at the right time for us, putting us on top of the log with one round to play (still).”

Coetzee called for more consistency from his charges, adding: “When we have the ball and when we are direct and run with intent, we're really a good team. I'd just like to see that for a full 80 minutes, and that's what we're striving for.

“We scrummed well, our line-out was okay, but that's not our usual high (line-out) standard. We were good at the breakdown – in fact, I thought we did particularly well there against a team that plays to the ball very well.

“Our kicking game was good,” continued the WP boss, “but we could probably work on our chase a bit more. Also, I think we could still improve our discipline – in terms of conceding penalties – which will be crucial come the play-offs.”

DHL WP skipper Deon Fourie – who scored a crucial try before half-time – claimed part of the responsibility for WP's slow start.

“I wasn't very happy with the first 10 minutes. I think I conceded both early penalties which put us on the back foot,” admitted Fourie.

“But the guys came back nicely. The frustrating thing is that the guys know how good we are if we play like we're supposed to because when we do, we're almost unstoppable.”

Province will travel to Durban this weekend to take on the Sharks in both teams' final league match of the season (kick-off 19h10). The winner of this match will finish the season on top of the log and, thereby, have the right to a home final.

Fourie added: “Facing the Sharks in Durban is a different beast – no pun intended!”

Meanwhile, coach Coetzee added that whilst he was pleased with the depth in his squad at present, he would assess his Boks (who are due to return from Castle Rugby Championship duty) on an individual basis – both from a mental and physical point of view.

***CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO GALLERY FROM THIS MATCH!***