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DHL WP claim SuperSport Rugby Challenge title

PUBLISHED: July 16, 2017


DHL Western Province beat Tafel Lager Griquas 28-19 at Florida Park in Ravensmead on Sunday to claim the inaugural SuperSport Challenge title.

Having gone through the entire campaign unbeaten, DHL Western Province outscored the visitors by four tries to three in an entertaining match in front of a packed crowd.

DHL Western Province were dominant in the first half, running in four unanswered tries, before holding off a Griquas onslaught in the second half.

Earlier in the day there had been a local club derby as a curtain-raiser, with hosts Tygerberg RFC beating Belhar RFC 40-18.

In the SuperSport Rugby Challenge Final either side were willing to give an inch in the opening stages as the big hits came in from both sides.

The home side struck the first blow when Bjorn Basson got through a gap in the 22 and the conversion from Kurt Coleman made it 7-0.

They doubled that lead shortly afterwards when a great offload from fullback Craig Barry saw Marcello Sampson go over for the second try.

The third try was scored by lock Jurie van Vuuren who got a sensational offload from prop Michael Kumbirai in front of the poles after Barry had made the initial break.

DHL Western Province had the momentum and they continued to put the visitors under pressure as Sampson got over for his second try to give his side a commanding 28-0 advantage at half-time.

The hosts were reduced to 14 men in the second half when lock JD Schickerling was shown a yellow card for a cynical infringement and Griquas took advantage as replacement prop Nicolaas Oosthuizen bashed his way over for a try.

They followed that up with a second try from outside centre Koch Marx as the DHL Western Province defence was forced to work incredibly hard.

There was a late try from Griquas centre Tertius Kruger, but it was not enough to change the result as DHL Western Province held on to claim the title.

The scorers:

For DHL WP:
Tries: Basson, Sampson 2, Van Vuuren
Cons: Coleman 3

For Tafel Lager Griquas:
Tries: Oosthuizen, Marx, Kruger
Cons: Swarts 2

DHL Western Province: 15 Craig Barry, 14 Marcello Sampson, 13 Michal Haznar, 12 Brandon Thomson, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Jaco Coetzee, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Eital Bredenkamp (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 Michael Kumbirai, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 Oli Kebble.
Replacements: 16 Dean Muir, 17 Ash Wells, 18 Eduard Zandberg, 19 Luke Stringer, 20 Herschel Jantjies, 21 Ryan Oosthuizen, 22 Grant Hermanus.

Griquas: 15 Eric Zana, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Koch Marx, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 AJ Coertzen, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Christiaan Meyer, 8 Jason Fraser, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuuren, 4 FP Pelser, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 AJ le Roux, 1 Liam Hendricks.
Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 18 Jonathan Addendorf, 19 Jonathan Jansen van Rensburg, 20 Renier Botha, 21 Andre Swarts, 22 Enver Brandt.