DHL Western Province showed incredible character to hold on for a hard-fought 23-17 Carling Currie Cup win against Airlink Pumas in Nelspruit on Friday night.
Three tries in the first half and some gutsy defence after half-time was enough for DHL WP to claim their second win of the campaign.
DHL WP started with real intent and scored two early tries to race out to a 12-0 lead.
The first was sparked by flyhalf Tim Swiel, who collected his own chip kick and got the pass away, with his halfback partner Godlen Masimla finishing the try.
The second was a display of power from the forwards as Neethling Fouche forced his way over following a strong maul.
The home side hit back with two maul tries of their own, but a penalty from Swiel and a try from wing Sergeal Petersen would see DHL WP take a 20-10 advantage into the break.
DHL WP were reduced to 14 just before half-time when Ben-Jason Dixon was shown a yellow card for repeated infringement, but the numbers were even early in the second half when Airlink Pumas flank Anele Lungisa was shown yellow for a high tackle.
DHL WP were forced to defend for extended periods as the home side threw everything at them. They were down to 14 again, with Ernst van Rhyn shown yellow for a side entry this time, but still managed to hold out on defence.
The hosts eventually got their try as scrumhalf Chriswill September scrambled over, but DHL WP responded immediately with a Swiel penalty to make it 23-17 heading into the last 20 minutes.
That was how it finished as DHL WP held on under serous pressure in the final stages to claim an away win.
The scorers:
For DHL WP:
Tries: Masimla, Fouche, Petersen
Con: Swiel
Pens: Swiel 2
For Airlink Pumas:
Tries: Swart, Fourie, September
Con: Fouche
DHL Western Province: 15 Tristan Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Timothy Swiel, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Nama Xaba (captain), 5 Ben-Jason Dixon, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Jacques van Zyl, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 HP van Schoor, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Simon Miller, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Bobby Alexander, 22 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 23 Ebenezer Tshimanga
Airlink Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Etienne Taljaard, 13 Alwayno Visagie, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Tapiwa Mafura, 10 Eddie Fouche , 9 Chriswill September, 8 Willie Engelbrecht (captain), 7 Anele Lungisa, 6 Daniel Maartens, 5 Shane Kirkwood, 4 Darrien Landsberg, 3 Ignatius Prinsloo, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Corne Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Llewellyn Classen, 17 Dewald Maritz, 18 Simon Raw, 19 Doen Slabbert, 20 Phumzile Maqondwana, 21 Giovan Snyman, 22 Robbie Petzer, 23 Japie Kleinhans.