DHL Western Province U21 suffered their first defeat since 2022 as they went down 30-22 against Fidelity ADT Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The highveld team maintained their position on the top of the SA U21 Cup standings with the hard-fought win against the defending champions, who will face Leopards U21 at City Park next week.

The home team made a fast start with an early try and penalty to take a 10-0 lead.

DHL WP U21 responded with two fine tries to take control of the match as first centre Jonny Roche raced over before wing Ethan Isaacs applied the finishing touch out wide after some good work from midfielder Damian Markus.

Scrumhalf Imad Khan converted both tries and added a penalty to make it 17-10, but the Fidelity ADT Lions U21 would have the final say in the first half with a late try to level the scores at the break.

The hosts took the lead back at the start of the second half with a try and a penalty early, leaving DHL WP U21 down by 10 points again.

The visitors fought back bravely and eventually the pressure told as replacement prop Matthew Becket powered over for the third try, which left his side just five points down with 10 minutes left.

However, it would be the home side that had the final say as a late penalty denied DHL WP U21 what would have been a deserved bonus point.

The scorers:

For DHL WP U21:
Tries: Roche, Isaacs, Beckett
Cons: Khan 2
Pen: Khan

DHL WP U21: 15 Deano Boesak, 14 Ethan Isaacs, 13 Jonathan Roche, 12 Damian Markus, 11 Jared Africa, 10 Compion von Ludwig, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Max du Pisani, 7 Andre Goedhals, 6 Paul de Villiers (captain), 5 Carel van der Merwe, 4 Patrick Kitete, 3 Herman Lubbe, 2 Johan Lombard, 1 Mhleli Kuzwayo.
Replacements: 16 Joshua Eras, 17 Matthew Beckett, 18 Juan Ryan, 19 Xola Nyali, 20 Wandile Mlaba, 21 Ezekial Ngobeni, 22 Alex Vermeulen, 23 Ulrich Wahl.