DHL Western Province fought hard but could not avoid a 30-17 defeat against the Toyota Free State Cheetahs in their opening Currie Cup encounter in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
The defending champions managed to outscore DHL Western Province by four tries to two in what was a hard-fought clash at Toyota Stadium.
The home side opened the scoring with an early try from Sevens star Rosco Speckman, with DHL Western Province opening their account shortly afterwards through a Kurt Coleman penalty to make it 5-3.
Two penalties from Toyota Free State Cheetahs flyhalf Niel Marais took their lead out to 11-3 after the opening 20 minutes.
DHL Western Province launched a period of dominance in response as they put the home team’s defence under some serious pressure.
It eventually resulted in a yellow card for Toyota Free State Cheetahs flank Oupa Mohoje for a cynical infringement at a maul and DHL Western Province looked to have taken advantage by driving over the line, but the try was disallowed by the referee.
Despite that setback DHL Western Province stuck to their guns and got a deserved try which was well-taken by scrumhalf Justin Phillips following a powerful scrum.
However, the home side would have the final say in the first half as centre William Small-Smith scored to take their lead out to 18-10 at half-time.
The Free State side struck early in the second half as captain Francois Venter scored to extend their advantage to 25-10.
The home side secured the bonus point when wing Makazole Mapimpi touched down in the corner, leaving DHL Western Province with it all to do in the last 30 minutes.
DHL Western Province coach John Dobson rang the changes as a number of replacements took the field in the final stages and it would be flank Steph de Wit to score on his DHL Western Province debut with less than seven minutes left.
Despite throwing everything at their opponenets, DHL Western Province could not find a way through and will now set their sights on their clash with the Steval Pumas at DHL Newlands next week.
The scorers:
For DHL WP:
Tries: Phillips, De Wit
Cons: Coleman, Thomson
Pen: Coleman
For Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Speckman, Small-Smith, Venter, Mapimpi
Cons: Marais 2
Pens: Marais 2
DHL Western Province: 15 SP Marais, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Michal Hazner, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Kobus van Dyk, 5 JD Shickerling, 4 Chris van Zy (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Steph de Wit, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Brandon Thomson.
Toyota Free State Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Rosco Speckman, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 William Small-Smith, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niel Jordaan, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Uzair Cassiem, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Charles Marais.
Replacements: 16 Ox Nche, 17 Reinach Venter, 18 Rynier Bernado, 19 Henco Venter, 20 Zee Mkhabela, 21 Ryno Benjamin, 22 Malcolm Jaer.