DHL Western Province U19 claimed a hard-fought 17-15 victory in their opening game against Vodacom Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The visitors never gave up the lead, but were pushed hard by their hosts in what was a very tight finish.

DHL Western Province U19 opened the scoring with a try from inside centre Henlo Marais which was converted by flyhalf Francke Botha.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls U19 responded with a penalty, but the seven-point margin was restored when Botha landed a penalty of his own to give his side a 10-3 advantage at half-time.

They extended that lead to 17-3 just after half-time as flank Charl Serdyn got over for a try which was converted by Botha.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls came storming back as they sought a comeback victory and managed to scoretwo tries, but only one was converted, which gave DHL Western Province U19 a slender victory away from home.

The scorers:

For DHL WP U19:
Tries: Marais, Serdyn
Cons: Botha
Pen: Botha

DHL Western Province U19: 15 Marco Labuschagne, 14 Mike Mavovana, 13 Lyle Hendricks, 12 Henlo Marais, 11 Sam Phiri, 10 Francke Botha, 9 Labib Kannemeyer, 8 Muller Uys, 7 Shaine Orderson, 6 Charl Serdyn, 5 BJ Dixon, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Schalk Erasmus, 1 Leon Lyons.
Replacements: 16 Daniel Jooste, 17 Reece Bezuidenhout, 18 Adam Neethling, 19 Alex Halverson, 20 Gift Dlamini, 21 Branden de Kock, 22 Dominic Coetzer, 23 Nathan Nkutu.