DHL Western Province will host the SuperSport Rugby Challenge Final at Florida Park in Ravensmead on Sunday, but what did it take to get there?
Under the guidance of Head Coach John Dobson and his assistants Dawie Snyman, Norman Laker, Hanyani Shimange and Gareth Wright, DHL Western Province have won every single game they have played in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge and have the chance to make it a perfect season on Sunday.
Starting out in the South Section, with home and away victories against the SWD Eagles, Border Bulldogs, EP Kings and Boland Cavaliers, they qualified as top seeds for the play-offs as the only unbeaten team.
With 39 from a possible 40 log points in the pool stage of the competition, Dobson’s team then won their quarterfinal against Toyota Free State XV at the Green Point Track before booking their place in the Final by beating the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their Mdantsane semifinal last week.
We look back at every match along the way to track how DHL Western Province managed to find themselves within touching distance of a perfect season.
DHL WP 30-18 EP Kings
It all started at the Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth where the first SuperSport Rugby Challenge festival was held and DHL Western Province had to come from behind to beat the home team. Having trailed 13-10 at half-time a second-half surge which featured tries from Grant Hermanus, Luke Stringer and Jaco Coetzee saw them secure a bonus-point win.
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DHL WP 50-34 Border Bulldogs
The first home game of the season was held at City Park against an impressive Border Bulldogs side who did not just roll over on their trip to Cape Town. The visitors scored four tries of their own in an open and entertaining clash, but DHL Western Province scored seven with Scott van Breda grabbing a brace. Five conversions and a penalty from the boot of Brandon Thomson saw DHL Western Province secure their second win.
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DHL WP 35-28 Boland Cavaliers
The next assignment was to head up the West Coast to Velddrif where the Berg River meets the Atlantic Ocean. DHL Western Province scored four first-half tries to storm out to a 28-6 advantage at half-time, but were forced to hang on for the win as their local rivals came back strong in the second half. Despite not being as convincing a performance as the coaching staff would have liked, the team still showed good composure to pull off the win under pressure away from home.
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DHL WP 38-11 SWD Eagles
The only game of the campaign at DHL Newlands was played as a curtain-raiser to the DHL Stormers’ clash with the Blues. Juan de Jongh and Rynardt Elstadt started the game as they made their comeback from injury but the stars were Craig Barry and Chad Solomon who crossed for two tries each.
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DHL WP 39-24 EP Kings
After beating every other team in the South Section, DHL Western Province started all over again as they hosted the EP Kings at City Park. Another brace from Craig Barry and further tries from Chad Solomon, Jaco Coetzee, Marcello Sampson and Khanyo Ngcukana saw them claim a fifth victory on the bounce.
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DHL WP 45-7 Border Bulldogs
Next up was a trip to Mdantsane to take on the Border Bulldogs who had been so impressive at City Park earlier in the season. The home side scored first and it looked as if it would be tough for DHL Western Province to keep their winning run going. However, those would also be the only points the Bulldogs would score, as a committed defensive effort from the visitors shut them out thereafter. DHL Western Province scored six tries of their own in what was a convincing performance in the end which marked them as a force to be reckoned with.
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DHL WP 22-8 Boland Cavaliers
The Cape derby against Boland was held at Helderberg RFC in Strand where the teams were greeted by some welcome rain. Despite the desperate need for rain in the area, the weather did not make for running rugby. There was little to choose between the teams at half-time as they went into the break deadlocked at 8-8, but DHL Western Province pulled away in the second half with tries from Kurt Coleman and Michal Haznar, while they were able to keep their opponents scoreless.
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DHL WP 46-41 SWD Eagles
The final match of the group stage of the competition saw DHL Western Province travel to Oudtshoorn to take on the SWD Eagles. Although they enjoyed massive support from local fans, they did not have things all their way on the pitch and were forced to work hard for a narrow win in the end. A hat-trick from Craig Barry and two tries from Marcello Sampson saw the visitors score eight tries, but they still had to show some character under pressure to pull off the win as SWD pushed hard at the end.
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DHL WP 26-0 Free State XV
The first play-off game and the first opposition of the season from up north was held at the Green Point Track. In the cold and rain DHL Western Province put on a watertight defensive display which was classic knock-out rugby.Tries from Michal Haznar and Bjorn Basson in the second half put a seal on the win, but it was really all about their defence as Free State were ‘nilled’.
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DHL WP 28-24 Vodacom Blue Bulls
Despite having home advantage in the play-offs having finished as top seeds, DHL Western Province agreed to travel to Mdantsane to their ‘home away from home’ for the semifinal. In windy conditions they found themselves 13-10 down at half-time and needing to dig deep to secure their final spot. With the pressure on the team produced the goods as a late try from Jaco Coetzee was enough to see them through to a home final at Florida Park still unbeaten.
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