DHL Western Province booked their place in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge Final with a hard-fought 28-24 semifinal victory against the Vodacom Blue Bulls in Mdantsane on Sunday.
Coach John Dobson’s team maintained their unbeaten record this season, but had to dig deep to hold off a spirited Vodacom Blue Bulls side that threw everything at them.
DHL Western Province took the game to the opposition in the opening exchanges and looked to have opened the scoring, but Johan du Toit’s try was disallowed after they were called back for a forward pass.
Instead it would be the Vodacom Blue Bulls to open the scoring as centre Dries Swanepoel broke a tackle to score under the poles.
DHL Western Province hit back with a try of their own soon afterwards as Luke Stringer touched down to level it up at 7-7.
A penalty from Kurt Coleman put DHL Western Province in the lead for the first time in the match, but they were reduced to 14 men soon afterwards when lock Jurie van Vuuren was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle.
The Vodacom Blue Bulls reclaimed the lead with a second try after a nasty bounce saw the ball sit up for replacement Franco Naude who got over for the try.
A second penalty from Coleman made it 14-13 to the Vodacom Blue Bulls at the half-time break, which meant it was anyone’s game in the second half.
The teams traded penalties at the start of the second half before DHL Western Province took the lead back with a try from scrumhalf Godlen Masimla who scampered through a gap next to a ruck to go over.
The Vodacom Blue Bulls hit back with a try from Dewald Naude, but DHL Western Province would have the final say as No.8 Jaco Coetzee powered his way over in the corner to seal a hard-fought win and secure a place in the final next week.
The scorers:
For DHL WP:
Tries: Stringer, Masimla, Coetzee
Cons: Coleman 2
Pens: Coleman 2
For Vodacom Blue Bulls:
Tries: Swanepoel, F Naude, D Naude
Cons: Stander 3
Pen: Stander
DHL Western Province: 15 Craig Barry (captain), 14 Khanyo Ngcukana, 13 Michal Hazner, 12 Ruhan Nel, 11 Marcello Sampson, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Jaco Coetzee, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 Eduard Zandberg, 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 Michael Kumbirai, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 Caylib Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Dean Muir, 17 Ash Wells, 18 JD Schickerling, 19 Nyasha Tarusenga, 20 Herschel Jantjies, 21 Brandon Thomson, 22 Grant Hermanus.
Vodacom Blue Bulls: 15 Manie Libbok, 14 Dewald Naude, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 JT Jackson, 11 Kefentse Mahlo, 10 Joshua Stander, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Clyde Davids, 7 Abongile Nonkontwana (captain), 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Freddy Ngoza, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Njabulo Gumede.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Andrew Beerwinkel, 18 Marius Verwey, 19 Luigy van Jaarsveld, 20 Theo Maree, 21 Kurt Webster, 22 Franco Naude.