DHL Western Province claimed a valuable bonus point win away from home, as they beat the Cell C Sharks by 37-27 in Absa Currie Cup action in Durban on Saturday.
It was DHL WP’s fourth win from six starts this season, as the defending champions entrenched themselves in third place on the standings ahead of next week’s meeting with the Vodacom Blue Bulls in Cape Town.
Flying winger Seabelo Senatla set his team on the way to glory with a try in the seventh minute, first-time starter Rob du Preez slotting a brilliant touchline conversion to make it 7-3 to the visitors.
Former DHL WP star Joe Pietersen landed his second penalty goal shortly after, but a 13th minute Du Preez penalty extended Province’s lead once more to 10-6.
After a spell of aerial ping-pong, a third Pietersen penalty narrowed the scoreline to 10-9, before the hosts regained the lead through a strong finish by Andre Esterhuizen, Pietersen adding the conversion and a penalty on half-time to put the Sharks ahead by 17-10 at the break.
DHL WP needed a strong start to the second half to rub out that seven-point deficit and they got what they wanted when Rynhardt Elstadt forced his way over from close range, Du Preez converting to make it 17-17 after 43 minutes.
Birthday boy Dillyn Leyds was the next try-scorer for Province (in the 57th minute), after some excellent interplay between forwards and backs, before replacement hooker Bongi Mbonambi scored with his first touch of the ball less than five minutes later.
Mbonambi powered his way over after brilliant bit of interplay between Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Seabelo Senatla, with Du Preez again adding the extras to make it 31-20 – crucially, also securing the bonus point for the visitors.
Du Preez popped over another penalty to make it 34-20 with 23 minutes left, before the Sharks hit back with a try by Odwa Ndungane to keep them within seven points as the game entered the final quarter.
The Sharks, however, were not able to put together enough phases on attack to trouble the DHL WP defence and when replacement flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis landed a 78th minute penalty it gave his team more than enough breathing space as the Kings Park clock wound down.
It was a brilliant DHL WP victory in the final analysis, with debutant starter Du Preez – a late replacement for Kurt Coleman – contributing 14 points and new skipper Nic Groom giving his young side plenty of direction from the base of the scrum.
DHL Western Province will host the Vodacom Blue Bulls at DHL Newlands next Friday (kick-off 19h00), with tickets starting at just R20 and R30. (Visit Computicket HERE!)
The scorers:
For the Cell C Sharks:
Tries: Esterhuizen, Ndungane
Con: Pietersen
Pens: Pietersen 5
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Senatla, Elstadt, Leyds, Mbonambi
Cons: Du Preez 4
Pens: Du Preez 2, Catrakilis
The teams:
Sharks: 15 Odwa Ndungane, 14 Wandile Mjekevu, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Marco Wentzel (captain), 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Gerhard Engelbrecht, 2 Monde Hadebe, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Dale Chadwick, 18 Dave McDuling, 19 Christiaan de Bruyn, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Heimar Williams, 22 Garth April.
DHL Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Nic Groom (captain), 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Chris van Zyl, 19 Jurie van Vuuren, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Demetri Catrakilis, 22 Kobus van Wyk.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni, Sindile Ngcese
TMO: Willie Vos
