DHL Western Province fought hard but could not avoid a 46-25 defeat against Tafel Lager Griquas in Kimberley on Sunday.

It was the third Carling Currie Cup game in eight days for DHL Western Province and the workload clearly took its toll as they were outscored by three tries to six.

The defeat leaves them in fifth place on the standings, needing a win against the Cell C Sharks in Durban next week to qualify for the semifinals.

The early stages of the match were very stop-start, with the teams trading early penalties and multiple scrums being set without either side gaining any real sustained momentum.

The hosts got over for the first try from a driving maul, but DHL Western Province responded soon afterwards as Sergeal Petersen went over out wide following a yellow card for Tafel Lager Griquas wing James Verity-Am after repeated infringements from his side.

That levelled things up at 10-10, but DHL Western Province were soon down to 14 men themselves, with scrumhalf Paul de Wet shown a ellow card after not rolling away in the tackle on the tryline.

Tafel Lager Griquas scored from the resulting penalty, but DHL Western Province came storming back with a try from Ruhan Nel and a second penalty from Tim Swiel to take the lead back.

However, the home side had the final say in the first half, with a try from lock Adre Smith giving them a 24-18 advantage at half-time.

They extended that lead early in the second half as the kick-off went loose and it was captain Ruan Steenkamp who went over for the fourth try for the home side. They added to that with a try from Verity-Am, which left DHL Western Province with a long road back at 36-18 heading into the final half-hour.

DHL Western Province needed a strong response and it came from replacement prop Neethling Fouche, who powered his way over for the third try to make it 36-25 heading into the last 15 minutes.

However, Tafel Lager Griquas would be next to score, with a penalty from Whitehead before Verity-Am got over for his second try, to seal the win for the home side.

The scorers:

For DHL WP:
Tries: Petersen, Nel, Fouche
Cons: Swiel 2
Pens: Swiel 2

For Tafel Lager Griquas:
Tries: Van der Merwe, Sirgel, Smith, Steenkamp, Verity-Am 2
Cons: Whitehead 5
Pens: Whitehead 2

DHL Western Province: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 David Meihuizen, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Simon Miller, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Deon Fourie, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Cornel Smit