DHL Western Province scored eight tries on their way to a convincing 57-28 win against iCollege Pumas at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Friday.
The visitors were rampant, scoring four tries in each half of an entertaining display to make it two wins from two matches in their Currie Cup title defence.
DHL Western Province dominated possession in the early stages, running at the opposition with purpose and showing off some impressive skills on attack.
The first try saw them take it through multiple phases, with forwards and backs linking up well before flank Kobus van Dyk goosestepped through a gap to score.
They backed that up shortly afterwards as Van Dyk won the ball back in a tackle, with Jano Vermaak gliding through a gap and then putting wing Sergeal Petersen away for the second try.
Petersen featured prominently in the third try as well, winning a high ball before throwing a sensational pass behind his back to outside centee Ruhan Nel, who was running the perfect angle and raced away.
That put DHL Western Province 21-0 up after a breathless opening 20 minutes, but they were not done there and had the bonus point wrapped up in no time.
A powerful scrum in the Pumas 22 won a penalty advantage and the ball was given to the back, with centre Damian de Allende put SP Marais away with a long pass.
The home side hit back with converted tries by wing JP Lewis and lock Le Roux Roets, but DHL Western Province had the final say in the first half with a Marais penalty which gave them a 29-14 advantage at half-time.
DHL Western Province were first to strike in the second half as well, with Petersen flying through the air to claim another high ball and put lock Ernst van Rhyn over under the poles.
A line-out on the Pumas tryline gave DHL Western Province a chance to try a set move, with hooker Scarra Ntubeni lobbing the ball into a hole in the middle, hitting flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe who ran onto it at pace to score.
Petersen had his second try when he got on the end of a well-weighted grubber from De Allende after replacement scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies had pounced on a loose ball.
That brought up the half-century, but the Pumas got some consolation with late tries from Jerome Pretorius and flyhalf Chris Smith securing the bonus point for the home side.
However, DHL Western Province had the final say as some more great work from Petersen on the wing saw Jantjies get on the scoreboard to wrap up the 57-28 win.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Van Dyk, Petersen 2, Nel, Marais, Van Rhyn, Notshe, Jantjies
Cons: Marais 7
Pen: Marais
For iCollege Pumas:
Tries: Lewis, Roets, Pretorius, Smith
Cons: Smith 4
DHL Western Province: 15 Dillyn Leyds (captain), 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 SP Marais, 10 Josh Stander, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Michael Kumbirai, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Herschel Jantjies, 21 Dan du Plessis, 22 Craig Barry.
iCollege Pumas: 15 Gerrit Smith, 14 JP Lewis, 13 Ryan Nell, 12 Hennie Skorbinski (captain), 11 Neil Maritz; 10 Christopher Smith, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Cameron Lindsay, 4 Le Roux Roets, 3 Marné Coetzee, 2 Simon Westraadt, 1 Khwezi Mona.
Replacements: 16 Marko Jansen van Vuuren, 17 Andrew Beerwinkel, 18 Hugo Kloppers, 19 Hilton Lobberts, 20 Nardus van der Walt, 21 Reynier van Rooyen, 22 Trompie Pretorius.
