The DHL Western Province Under-19 team bounced back from last weekend’s away defeat to the EP Kings, as they beat the Lions Under-19s by 32-27 in an entertaining Absa Provincial Under-19 clash at City Park.
The DHL WP U19s led 27-3 at half-time, after a brilliant opening forty minutes, but found themselves up against a totally different Lions side in the second half.
Province scored four tries in the first half, through lock Jaco Willemse, winger Duncal Saal, centre Eduan Keyter and fullback Gerard Pieterse, with flyhalf Aidynn Cupido adding two conversions and a penalty goal.
The Lions, however, came out firing in the second half with three quick tries – through flanks James Venter (two) and Jaundre Michau – to narrow the gap to 27-20, before DHL WP U19 replacement hooker Ruan Brits crashed over to make it 32-20.
The visitors kept up the pressure and scored their fourth try, through winger Nazo Nkala, to come within a converted try of victory as they threw everything at the Province defence in the final five minutes.
But the DHL WP Under-19s resisted the final wave of pressure – despite seeing captain Jaco Coetzee sin-binned – to come away with a valuable win at home, giving them two wins from three matches thus far in 2015.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province Under-19:
Tries: Willemse, Saal, Keyter, Pieterse, Brits
Cons: Cupido 2
Pen: Cupido
For the Xerox Golden Lions Under-19:
Tries: Venter 2, Michau, Nkala
Cons: Mulder 2
Pen: Mulder
The teams:
DHL Western Province Under-19: 15 Gerard Pieterse, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Eduan Keyter, 12 Justin Heunis, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Aidynn Cupido, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Jaco Coetzee (captain), 7 Saud Abrahams, 6 Mitchell Carstens, 5 Eduard Zandberg, 4 Jaco Willemse, 3 Michael Kumbirai, 2 Percy Mngadi, 1 Ruben Terblanche.
Replacements: 16 Ruan Brits, 17 Edward Marais, 18 Jerome Korf, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Daniel Maree, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Tiaan Swanepoel, 23 Carlton Fouri.
Lions Under-19: 15 Barend Smith (captain), 14 Nazo Nkala, 13 Paul de Beer, 12 Hendrick Mulder, 11 Jaydrin Kotze, 10 Curtis Jonas, 9 Marco Jansen van Vuuren, 8 McMillan Miller, 7 Jaundre Michau, 6 James Venter, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 4 Morne Moos, 3 Sarel Smith, 2 Le Roux Baard, 1 Henco Smit.
Replacements: 16 Gert Mulder, 17 Kenneth van Niekerk, 18 Anton Smith, 19 Gavin Delport, 20 Wynand Botha, 21 Arno Maree, 22 Johan Vermaak, 23 Stephen Bashera.
Referee: Ricus van der Hoven
