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DHL WP pull away from Pumas at DHL Newlands

PUBLISHED: August 5, 2017


DHL Western Province produced a stirring second half performance to claim a 34-19 bonus point win against Steval Pumas at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

Despite trailing 12-10 at half-time, DHL Western Province ran in four tries in the second half at DHL Newlands to secure what was a comfortable win in the end.

It was the first victory of the Currie Cup campaign for coach John Dobson’s team in what was their first home game of the season.

DHL Western Province took the game to the opposition in the opening stages and they were rewarded when Seabelo Senatla went over in the corner for the opening try.

The visitors absorbed a lot of pressure on defence and would level things up at 5-5 when lock Stephan Greeff got over for a try from a driving maul.

The Steval Pumas then took a 12-5 lead when fullback Devon Williams reacted to a quick throw-in and raced away for their second try.

DHL Western Province hit back with a try from fullback SP Marais just before half-time, to reduce the Steval Pumas’ lead to 12-10 at the break.

The Steval Pumas were first to strike in the second half as replacement Jerome Pretorius burst over for a try to take their lead out to 19-10.

DHL Western Province responded with a third try as hooker Bongi Mbonambi barged his way over from close range to reduce the deficit to 19-15.

The home side were back in front soon afterwards as the ball was sent wide to Dillyn Leyds who scored in the corner, with SP Marais adding the touchline conversion.

With the momentum firmly in their favour, DHL Western Province extended their lead through a penalty try which was awarded following a powerful maul.

There was time for one final try from Nizaam Carr which sealed the victory for DHL Western Province.

The scorers:

For DHL WP:
Tries: Senatla, Marais, Mbonambi, Leyds, penalty try, Carr
Con: Marais

For Steval Pumas:
Tries: Greeff, Williams, Pretorius
Cons: Marais 2

DHL Western Province: 15 SP Marais, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Steph de Wit, 5 JD Shickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Michael Kumbirai, 19 Johan du Toit, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Michal Hazner.

Steval Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Jean-Paul Lewis, 13 Gerrit Smith, 12 Sias Ebersohn, 11 Ruwellyn Isbell, 10 Kobus Marais, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Brian Shabangu (captain), 5 Cameron Lindsay, 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Jacques Kotze, 2 Mark Pretorius, 1 De-Jay Terblanche.
Replacements: 16 Frank Herne, 17 Louis Albertse, 18 Jannie Stander, 19 Chris Cloete, 20 Theo Maree, 21 Justin van Staden, 22 Jerome Pretorius.