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DHL WP fall just short

PUBLISHED: April 15, 2022


DHL Western Province were unable to hold onto their half-time lead as they fell to a 21-28 Carling Currie Cup defeat to the Toyota Cheetahs at DHL Stadium on Friday night.

The home side were full value for their 16-7 lead as the flawless boot of flyhalf Tim Swiel combined with a moment of individual brilliance from Tristan Leyds helped the hosts overturn some early dominance from the Cheetahs.

Alulutho Tshakweni opened the scoring for the guests which was converted by Ruan Pienaar after 15 minutes. From that point on, the home side shifted gears and dominated all facets of play. The dominance turned into points as Tim Swiel started knocking over the penalties. The visitors continued to infringe and were reduced to 14 men which only spurred DHL WP on.

Eventually the pressure told as Tristan Leyds burst through the line with some quick-stepping and raced away to the tryline.

The hosts then headed to the break leading 16-7. DHL WP carried on where they left off in the second 40 as Angelo Davids dotted down to briefly lead the competition’s try scoring charts.

The skilled winger latched onto the offload from Sergeal Petersen who had collected a kick from Leyds and held off the tackler long enough to set Davids free.

The Cheetahs then clawed their way back into the contest as they capitalised well on each visit into the home side’s half. Louis van der Westhuizen scored for the visitors before centre David Brits added another. Each try was converted by Pienaar as the Cheetahs levelled scores.

A late try by Van der Westhuizen, which makes him the top scorer this season in the Carling Currie Cup, put the Cheetahs ahead.

DHL WP gave everything in search of a match-equalling score but Davids was denied after chasing down a Petersen kick before replacement scrumhalf Bobby Alexander was brought down when trying to burst through the defence. In the end, the Cheetahs did just enough to leave DHL Stadium with the win.

The win moved the Toyota Cheetahs to within one point of the Vodacom Bulls at the top of the standings. They are unbeaten from their seven fixtures this season.