DHL Western Province ran in nine tries to claim a 57-14 Currie Cup victory against the Toyota Free State Cheetahs at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
It was the fourth win of the season for coach John Dobson’s team and saw them cliomb to third on the Currie Cup standings.
The home side was rampant in the first half, scoring six unanswered tries to take a comfortable 36-0 advantage into half-time.
The first try came from hooker Ramone Samuels, who juggled the ball out wide before scoring in the corner, with his brother Damian Willemse adding the conversion from the touchline.
The second try was finished in the same corner by fullback Craig Barry, but it was born deep in DHL Western Province territory as Werner Kok went on a scything run which cut the Free State Cheetahs defence in half.
Flank Jaco Coetzee pounced on a loose ball to race away for a runaway try and the bonus point was wrapped up shortly afterwards as lock JD Schickerling finished off a superb team effort.
Some fantastic interplay between Huw Jones and Ruhan Nel down the left wing saw the centre score in the corner, while the sixth came from big Wilco Louw who powered his way over to give DHL Western Province a healthy lead at the break.
Samuels got over for his second try 10 minutes into the second half before he was replaced by Chad Solomon.
The half-century was raised with 15 minutes left to play as replacement scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage found Coetzee with a deft pass under the poles.
Replacement Sikhumbuzo Notshe celebrated his return to the playing field following injury with a try before the visitors finally got on the scoreboard with late tries from replacement flank Daniel Maartens and hooker Marnus van der Merwe.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Samuels 2, Barry, Coetzee 2, Schickerling, Jones, Louw, Notshe
Cons: Willemse 3, Du Preez 3
For Toyota FS Cheetahs:
Tries: Maartens, Van der Merwe
Cons: Stapelberg 2
DHL Western Province: 15 Craig Barry, 14 Werner Kok, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Ruhan Nel, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Michael Kumbirai, 18 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 19 Kobus van Dyk, 20 Dewaldt Duvenage, 21 Robert du Preez, 22 Dan Kriel.
Toyota Free State Cheetahs: 15 Marco Mason, 14 Carel-Jan Coetzee, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Stephan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Ernst Stapelberg, 9 JP Smith, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Chris Dry (captain), 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Dennis Visser, 4 Nicolaas Immelman, 3 Laun de Bruin, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Johan Kotze.
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Andrew Kuhn, 18 Sibabalo Qoma, 19 Daniel Maartens, 20 Fifi Rampeta, 21 Dian Badenhorst, 22 Ryno Eksteen.
