DHL Western Province claimed a 19-5 victory against Xerox Golden Lions in their Currie Cup semifinal at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
They will face the Cell C Sharks in the Currie Cup Final at Kings Park in Durban next week, following an impressive display in front of the DHL Newlands Faithful.
The home side opened the scoring with an early penalty from flyhalf Rob du Preez, but they were soon down a man as lock JD Schickerling was shown a yellow card for collapsing a maul.
The Xerox Golden Lions took advantage as flyhalf Jaco van der Walt went over for a try which gave them a 5-3 advantage.
Despite that setback, DHL Western Province took the game to the opposition and were enjoying the majority of both territory and possession in the first half.
Another penalty from Du Preez gave them a 6-5 lead and they continued to put the visitors’ defence under pressure.
That pressure eventually told as tighthead prop Wilco Louw barged his way over in the corner for a try on the stroke of half-time.
The conversion from Du Preez gave DHL Western Province a handy 13-5 lead at the break.
The Xerox Golden Lions took the game to their hosts at the start of the second half, but the DHL Western Province defence held up well and they would be next to score through a Du Preez penalty which made it 16-5 with 25 minutes left to play.
The visitors continued to push desperately, but DHL Western Province defended valiantly to keep them out and secure their place in the final next week.
The scorers:
For DHL WP:
Try: Louw
Con: Du Preez
Pens: Du Preez 4
For Xerox Golden Lions:
Try: Van der Walt
DHL Western Province: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Ruhan Nel, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Jan de Klerk, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Werner Kok, 23 Damian Willemse.
Xerox Golden Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 13 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Len Massyn, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Dylan Smith, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Jacques van Rooyen (captain).
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ruan Dreyer,18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Rhyno Herbst, 20 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 21 Sylvian Mahuza, 22 Ashlon Davids, 23 Robert Kruger.
