DHL Western Province made it five from five in the 2014 Absa Currie Cup with a convincing 49-14 win over the Eastern Province Kings at DHL Newlands on Friday night.
The hosts, the only remaining unbeaten team in the Currie Cup, picked up their third bonus point win of the season in the process as they racked up seven tries whilst conceding just two.
Skipper Juan de Jongh opened his team’s tally in the 11th minute when he snapped up a loose EP Kings pass, that after kickers Scott van Breda (Kings) and Demetri Catrakilis (DHL WP) missed goal kicks inside the first ten minutes.
Catrakilis made no mistake with the conversion of De Jongh’s try, however, and he repeated the treatment four more times as Province racked up the bonus point within 48 minutes of play – that after leading 21-7 at half-time.
De Jongh completed his try double in the 22nd minute, following on from a try (from a maul) by Siya Kolisi in the 17th minute, before that man Cheslin Kolbe sealed the four-try bonus point with a cheeky individual effort in the 48th minute. Kolbe snapped up a hack-ahead from the Kings on his own 10-metre line – having been forced to back-track with his team on the attack, before switching on the after-burners and beating a host of defenders en route to the goalline.
A second-half yellow card to replacement forward Rynhardt Elstadt could have slowed things down for the hosts, but right-wing Kobus van Wyk snapped up a loose pass right-away and ran off for his fourth try in three matches, before Elstadt dotted down upon his return from the bin.
Kolisi completed his try-double shortly before full-time – much to the delight of the near-9,000 spectators at DHL Newlands – with replacement flyhalf Kurt Coleman adding the extras on both occasions, as the Kings finished off, to their credit, with an excellent score by former Province man Tim Whitehead.
No.5 lock Ruan Botha was voted the official Absa Man of the Match, after an all-action display in his first start of the 2014 Absa Currie Cup, with Province due to travel to Johannesburg next weekend to take on the Xerox Golden Lions.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: De Jongh 2, Kolisi 2, Kolbe, Van Wyk, Elstadt
Cons: Catrakilis 5, Coleman 2
For Eastern Province Kings:
Tries: Schoeman, Whitehead
Cons: Van Breda 2
The teams:
DHL Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Pat Howard, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Neil Rautenbach, 17 Pat Cilliers, 18 Manuel Carizza, 19 Rynhardt Elstadt, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Justin Geduld.
Eastern Province Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Ronnie Cooke, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Dwayne Jenner, 11 Siviwe Soyizwapi, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Kevin Luiters, 8 Aidon Davis, 7 Paul Schoeman, 6 Shaun MacDonald, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Steven Sykes (captain), 3 Tom Botha, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16 Mike van Vuuren, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Stefan Willemse, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Tobie Botes, 21 Shane Gates, 22 Siyanda Grey.
Referee: Stuart Berry
Assistant referees: Quinton Immelman, Marc van Zyl
Television Match Official: Shaun Veldsman