DHL Western Province beat GWK Griquas by 45-21 in their Absa Currie Cup encounter at DHL Newlands on Saturday, the home side picking up a four-try bonus point for their efforts.

The game was pretty much sewn up by half-time, as DHL WP led 31-7 at the break – also securing the four-try bonus in the opening stanza in front of a crowd of 8,530.

First-half tries by Joe Pietersen, Gerhard van den Heever, Marcel Brache and Deon Fourie meant DHL WP could relax a bit in the second half but there was to be no let-up as Scarra Ntubeni and Jebb Sinclair crossed in the second half too.

Flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis was in deadly form with his boot, converting all six tries (four from the touchline), whilst fullback Pietersen – celebrating his return to the starting XV – also succeeded with a long-range penalty in the first half.

DHL WP led 7-0 after Pietersen’s fourth-minute try, scrumhalf Louis Schreuder creating it with a cheeky tap-‘n-go, before Griquas equalised when flanker Marnus Schoeman scampered over in the 12th minute.

The visitors showed plenty of intent to run the ball, and take the game to their hosts, but when right-wing Gerhard van den Heever raced away with an intercept try in the 17th minute it set the tone for the rest of the game.

Centre Marcel Brache repeated the dose in the 29th – his intercept try coming under the uprights – and then captain courageous Deon Fourie rumbled over from a maul before half-time to make it 31-7.

Hooker Ntubeni and No.8 Sinclair scored good tries in the final quarter, as WP put the icing on the cake in their second bonus point win at home this season.

The scorers:

For DHL Western Province:

Tries: Pietersen, Van den Heever, Brache, Fourie, Ntubeni, Sinclair

Cons: Catrakilis 6

Pen: Pietersen

For GWK Griquas:

Tries: M Schoeman, Penalty try, Jansen

Cons: Brummer 2, Boshoff