The DHL Western Province Under-21s made it two from two for DHL WP’s junior sides against the Lions at City Park today with a determined 24-19 win against the formerly unbeaten Lions Under-21s.

The DHL WP U21s started the match superbly, with left-wing Leolin Zas getting over in the second minute and fit-again No.10 Jean-Luc du Plessis adding the extras for a handy 7-0 lead.

The Lions scored a try soon after, via flanker Cyle Brink, but two more Province Under-21 tries – both converted by Du Plessis – saw them lead 21-5.

Despite a ferocious onslaught in the latter stages of the first half, the DHL WP U21s held onto their lead to make it 21-5 at half-time knowing that they would be playing into the wind in the second half.

The Lions made the wind tell, as they kept the pressure on DHL WP’s U21s from the start of the second half and inside centre Gerdus van der Walt sliced through the defence for the first points of the second period to make it 21-12 after 47 minutes.

Du Plessis slotted a penalty goal after a spell of Province pressure on the Lions goalline, to make it 24-12 with 23 minutes left in this hard-fought contest and from there on the hosts relied on passion and great teamwork to defy their in-form opponents, who had picked up three bonus point wins in succession up until today.

The Lions did manage a late try, to come away with a losing bonus point, but the DHL WP U21s – under the coaching of Robbie Fleck – can feel well satisfied with their victory.

It was the DHL WP Under-21 team’s second win from three games thus far in 2015, backing up last week’s impressive 44-13 bonus point win over the EP Kings (away) and making up for their opening-round defeat to the Sharks’ Under-21s in trying conditions (at City Park) in Week One.

The scorers:

For DHL Western Province Under-21:
Tries: Zas, Van der Merwe, Phillips
Cons: J du Plessis 3
Pen: J du Plessis

For the Xerox Golden Lions Under-21:
Tries: Brink 2, Van der Walt
Cons: Hewitt, Reynolds

The teams:

DHL Western Province Under-21: 15 Grant Hermanus, 14 Khanyo Ngcukana, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Jarryd Sage, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis (vice-captain), 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Rikus Bothma (captain), 7 Christo van der Merwe, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 David Ribbans, 4 Johannes Momsen, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 Wesley Adonis.
Replacements: 16 Martin Wipplinger, 17 Liam Hendricks, 18 Devon Nash, 19 Luke van der Smit, 20 SP Ferreira, 21 Ryno Eksteen, 22 Sibahle Maxwane.

Golden Lions Under-21: 15 Kobus Engelbrecht, 14 Koch Marx, 13 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 12 Gerdus van der Walt, 11 Caswell Khoza, 10 Brandan Hewitt, 9 Christiaan Meyer, 8 Jano Venter, 7 Ruan Ackermann, 6 Cyle Brink, 5 Gideon Koegelenberg, 4 Bobby de Wee, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 Dylan Smith (captain).
Replacements: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Clinton Theron, 18 Victor Sekekete, 19 Thabo Mabuza, 20 Johan Esterhuysen, 21 Shaun Reynolds, 22 Cameron Rooi.

Referee: Stephan Geldenhuys