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Dominant DHL WP win well

PUBLISHED: April 5, 2014


DHL Western Province celebrated their Vodacom Cup return to DHL Newlands with an emphatic 65-29 win over the Tusker Simba XV on Saturday afternoon.

Both teams looked full of running in the curtain-raiser to the DHL Stormers v Waratahs Super Rugby encounter in Cape Town, but DHL WP were clearly the dominant team in this one-sided Round Five encounter.

Fleet-footed left-wing Devon Williams scored four tries before half-time, as the hosts ended the day with 11 tries, conceding just four in the process.

Captain and flank Rohan Kitshoff went over barely after the match had started and the hosts had a 5-0 lead after flyhalf Gary van Aswegen missed the conversion.

Flyhalf Kenny Andola kicked a penalty to get the Kenyans on the board as the two teams started to get a feel for each other and the match.

With the score at 5-3 Williams scored his first try, but Van Aswegen was again not able to convert.

The Simba XV gave the hosts a slight scare as first centre Fabian Ogutu and then fullback Tony Opondo scored to grab the lead at 13-10. Andola converted the second try to give Simba XV a handy 15-10 lead before WP started turning on the style in a major way.

Impressive DHL WP centre Johnny Kotze backed himself and went wide to outpace the would-be defender and draw the teams level. Van Aswegen missed his third kick and it was left to Williams to seize the initiative. The flying winger scored three tries in seven minutes to take the home team out to a 32-15 lead after 36 minutes of play.

Opondo scored his second try after running onto a superb delayed pass by Ogutu. Andola duly converted and the Simba XV had narrowed the gap and trailed by 22-32 going into the final moments of the half.

Possibly thinking of half-time, and not concentrating, the Kenyan scrum was penalised and powerful DHL WP eighthman Carel du Preez seized an opportunity. He took a quick tap and went for the tryline, going over for try No.7. Van Aswegen could not land the conversion and the half-time score was 37-22 for the WP.

A superb line-break by Bax saw Du Preez harken back to visions of his namesake Carel and just like the prince of wings this Du Preez scored a fantastic try in the corner, which Van Aswegen converted.

Eighthman Joshua Chisanga scored a fourth try for his side after the Province defenders were unable to bring down the big man. The conversion by Andola made it 44-29 and this was the last time the Kenyans troubled the scorers.

Big prop Christo ‘Tiny’ van Wyk dotted down after sniping from a ruck before captain courageous Kitshoff scored twice more to complete his hat-trick of tries. Replacement Martin Omondi was sent to the sin-bin after an indiscretion and DHL WP looked to capitalise on the numerical advantage.

Coach John Dobson emptied his entire bench during the match, with fit-again forwards Michael Willemse and Sti Sithole getting much-needed game time and replacement flyhalf Kurt Coleman kicking three conversions when he came on in the half.

Coleman’s introduction saw starting No.10 Gary van Aswegen shifted out to inside centre, giving the team yet another playmaker in the midfield.

The hosts will welcome the Free State XV in what should be an epic encounter next week at City Park, whilst Tusker the Simba XV will have to regroup quickly as they will host the unbeaten Sharks XV in a Round Six South Section clash.

The scorers:

For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Kitshoff 3, Williams 4, Kotze, Du Preez 2, Van Wyk
Cons: Van Aswegen 2, Coleman 3

For Tusker Simba XV:
Tries: Ogutu, Opondo 2, Chisanga
Cons: Andola 3
Pen: Andola

The teams:

DHL Western Province: 15 Tiger Bax, 14 JP Lewis, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Kyle Lombard, 11 Devon Williams, 10 Gary van Aswegen, 9 Freddie Muller, 8 Carel du Preez, 7 Lungelo Chonco,
6 Rohan Kitshoff (captain), 5 Jan Uys, 4 Jan de Klerk, 3 Entienne Swanepoel, 2 Michael Kennedy, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Michael Willemse, 17 Christo van Wyk, 18 Sti Sithole, 19 Ian Groenewald, 20 Eital Bredenkamp, 21 Jean Nel, 22 Kurt Coleman.

Tusker Simba XV: 15 Tony Onyango, 14 Leonard Mugaisi, 13 Fabian Olando, 12 Nick Barasa, 11 Dennis Muhanji, 10 Kenny Andola,9 Edwin Achayo, 8 Joshua Chisanga, 7 Michael Okombe, 6 Brian Nyikuli, 5 Emmanuel Mavala, 4 Oliver Mang’eni, 3 James Kang’ethe, 2 Maxwell Adaka, 1 Joseph Kang’ethe.
Replacements: 16 Edward Oseko, 17 Moses Amusala, 18 Curtis Lilako, 19 Martin Owila, 20 Robert Aringo, 21 Eden Agero, 22 Darwin Mukidza.

Referee: Tahla Ntshakaza