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DHL WP make a winning start

PUBLISHED: April 8, 2016


DHL Western Province secured a convincing 30-16 victory against the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their opening Currie Cup Qualifier at DHL Newlands on Friday.

The hosts outscored their visitors by three tries to one, to get their campaign off to a solid start against a competitive Vodacom Blue Bulls outfit.

Both teams got on the scoreboard early on as they exchanged penalties, but DHL Western Province took control of the game with tries from both their centres which put them 17-3 up after 20 minutes.

First inside centre Dan du Plessis showed great strength to power his way over from close range, before outside centre Tim Whitehead danced his way through a gap, with flyhalf Brandon Thomson converting both tries.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls responded with a try of their own from prop Nqobisizwe Mxoli who peeled off a driving maul to score after a period of extended pressure in the DHL Western Province 22.

Two further penalties from the boot of Jantjies brought the visitors to within one point of DHL Western Province at 17-16 at the half-time break.

DHL Western Province struck first in the second half as another Thomson penalty gave them a handy seven-point buffer at 23-16.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls were struck a blow with 20 minutes left when replacement Le Roux Roets was shown a yellow card, which saw DHL Western Province camp in the 22 and they were eventually rewarded when replacement Meyer Swanepoel forced his way over for the final try to put a seal on the victory.

The scorers:

For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Du Plessis, Whitehead, Swanepoel
Cons: Thomson 3
Pens: Thomson 3

For Vodacom Blue Bulls:
Try: Mxoli
Con: Jantjies
Pens: Jantjies 3

Teams:

DHL Western Province: 15 Grant Hermanus, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Daniel du Plessis, 11 JP Lewis, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Jacques Vermeulen, 7 Luke Stringer, 6 Eital Bredenkamp, 5 Chris van Zyl (captain), 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 JP Smith, 2 Mike Willemse, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Frans van Wyk, 18 Meyer Swanepoel, 19 Tertius Daniller, 20 Damian Stevens, 21 Berton Klaasen, 22 Devon Williams.

Vodacom Blue Bulls: 15 Manie Libbok, 14 Luther Obi, 13 Jade Stighling, 12 Franco Naude, 11 Kefenste Mahalo, 10 Tony Jantjies, 9 Theo Maree, 8 Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 7 Freddy Ngoza, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Entienne Swanepoel, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Nqobisizwe Mxoli.
Replacements: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Njabula Gumede, 18 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 19 Le Roux Roets, 20 Tapiwa Tsomondo, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Joshua Stander.

Referee: AJ Jacobs