DHL Western Province made it two from two in the 2015 Absa Currie Cup, as they beat the Free State Cheetahs by 9-3 in the rain at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
The visitors held a slender 3-0 lead going into half-time in wet conditions in Cape Town, but three Demetri Catrakilis penalty goals in the second did the trick for the hosts.
Having seen his team cruise to a bonus point victory over Griquas in Kimberley last Friday, DHL WP coach John Dobson would have been unhappy with his team”s narrow victory, but, in truth, the conditions put paid to an open (or hopes of an error-free) match.
DHL WP did have a one-man advantage on three occasions, when centre Rayno Benjamin (first half) and loose forwards Gerhard Olivier and Henco Venter (second half) were yellow carded, but they were unable to truly make it count – even when both Olivier and Venter were in the bin at the same time.
There were some nervy moments in the dying minutes of the match, in particular when a Clayton Blommetjies break saw Benjamin surfing towards the DHL WP goalline – only to lose the ball ahead thanks to a brilliant ankle tap by replacement flyhalf Kurt Coleman.
Aside from Catrakilis”s boot, both in terms of his goalkicking and kicking out of hand, powerhouse No.6 flank Rynhardt Elstadt was voted the official Absa Currie Cup Man of the Match for his busy afternoon.
On a worrying note, however, DHL Western Province skipper Juan de Jongh limped off with an injury early in nbso online casino reviews the second half. More will be known about his injury on Monday.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Pens: Catrakilis 3
For the Toyota Free State Cheetahs:
Pen: Zeilinga
The teams:
DHL Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr (vice-captain), 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Oli Kebble
Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 Jan de Klerk, 19 Chris Cloete, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Kobus van Wyk
Free State Cheetahs: 15 Adriaan Coertzen, 14 Clayton Blommetjies, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Rayno Benjamin, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Henco Venter, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Francois Uys (captain), 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Caylib Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Elandre Huggett, 17 Maks van Dyk, 18 Reniel Hugo, 19 Gerhard Olivier, 20 Tienie Burger, 21 Zee Mkhabela, 22 Sias Ebersohn.
Referee: Jaco van Heerden
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs, Rodney Boneparte
TMO: Willie Vos
