Defending Absa Currie Cup champions, DHL Western Province, opened their 2015 campaign with a 43-19 bonus point win over Griquas in Kimberley on Friday afternoon.
The defending champions showed plenty of promise in their first competitive hit-out of the year, with SA Sevens speedster Seabelo Senatla scoring a brilliant try double.
New coach John Dobson would have been pleased with many aspects of his team”s performance, but a bit worried with their discipline as they conceded a host of penalties and also had forwards Jean Kleyn (first half) and Rynhardt Elstadt (second half) sin binned.
Still, DHL Western Province shrugged off those yellow cards to score tries on both occasions of being a man down, the Men from the Cape ending up with six well-taken tries on a hot Kimberley afternoon.
No.8 Nizaam Carr opened the scoring in the ninth minute, only for Griquas to hit back almost soon afterwards with a converted try of their own.
A Demetri Catrakilis penalty made it 10-7 after 14 minutes, before Senatla opened his try tally in the 22nd minute – having been denied twice by the TMO beforehand.
DHL WP were not done in the first half, however, as right-wing Dillyn Leyds scored his first-ever Absa Currie Cup try, despite Kleyn being in the bin, the visitors acting fast after winning a penalty in the Griqua 22 – tapping and going left where Leyds cruised over.
The half-time scored was 24-7 to DHL Western Province, the only question being when they would get their fourth try – and bonus point – but the second half started a bit on the slow side for the visitors, who did ring the changes throughout the second forty minutes.
Debutant hooker Marius Fourie was first on, right after the break, with Bongi Mbonambi having given a good forty minutes, but DHL Western Province had to wait 11 minutes before opening their tally in the second half.
It came, rather predictably one might add, from Senatla – the official Absa Currie Cup Man of the Match using a combination of his pace and footballing skills to rack up his second try and put the defending champions ahead by a comfortable margin of 31-7.
The changes came thick and fast for Province afterwards, with Griquas replying with two tries of their own, but it was the visitors who ended the match on a high through brilliant tries by Sikhumbuzo Notshe and captain Juan de Jongh.
Notshe”s try, in particular, was a beauty as virtually every single Province player got in on the act before captain De Jongh straightened and off-loaded to the impressive DHL WP No.7 who crossed unopposed.
De Jongh”s try, meanwhile, came off a scrappy base but the captain benefitted from online casino a strong chase by Senatla and himself before dotting down in the left-hand corner to put the icing on the cake for the rampant defending champions.
DHL Western Province will host the Free State Cheetahs in Cape Town next Saturday (kick-off 15h00). CLICK HERE for our incredible 2015 half season ticket special at the home of rugby, DHL Newlands!
The scorers:
For ORC Griquas:
Tries: Le Roux, Viljoen, Nel
Cons: Prinsloo, Dukisa
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Carr, Senatla 2, Leyds, Notshe, De Jongh
Cons: Catrakilis 4
Pen: Catrakilis
The teams:
Griquas: 15 Gouws Prinsloo, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Ntabeni Dukisa, 10 Riaan Viljoen, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Carel Greeff, 7 Nardus van der Walt, 6 RJ Liebenberg, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 Abraham le Roux, 1 Danie Mienie.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Stephan Kotze, 18 Jaco Nepgen, 19 Leon Karemaker, 20 Rudi van Rooyen, 21 Jacquin Jansen, 22 Ngcobo Sandile.
DHL Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr (vice-captain), 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Oli Kebble.
Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 Chris van Zyl, 19 Chris Cloete, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Johnny Kotze.
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant referees: Lourens van der Merwe, Jaco Kotze
TMO: JJ Wagner
