DHL Western Province suffered a disappointing 14-23 defeat to the SWD Eagles in George on Friday night, meaning they will have to play their Vodacom Cup quarterfinal away next weekend.

DHL Western Province were in desperate need of a victory to ensure that they host a quarterfinal, but the loss to the Eagles means that the Toyota Free State XV will play host next weekend if they can achieve the maximum points in their game against the Tusker Tsimba XV in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

The Eagles and Province both scored twice in the encounter and in the end it was the kicking boot of Eagles flyhalf Karlo Aspeling that sunk the visitors.

The latter was on song with all his kicks at goal, slotting two conversions and three penalties in the end to send DHL Western Province home empty-handed in front of a sell-out crowd at Outeniqua Park.

Aspeling opened the Eagles’ account in the 18th minute with a penalty goal after both the hosts and Province could not find any space in the minutes leading up to the kick.

The home team flyhalf’s attempt sparked the hosts to play more attacking rugby and they reaped the rewards when centre Daniel Roberts went over shortly thereafter for a converted try.

SWD kept calm when it mattered and the result was no penalty attempts for Province in the first half, leaving them to trail 0-10 at half-time.

The Eagles, however, picked up the second half where they left off the first and winger Alshaun Bock scored with Aspeling converting to stun the visitors to a deficit of 17 points.

Province made no less than four tactical substitutions in a window of four minutes and they reaped the rewards when flyhalf Gary van Aswegen scored and fullback Robert du Preez converted to finally get the visitors on the scoreboard.

But Aspeling was on song with his kicking boot and slotted another penalty near the end to put the result beyond doubt.

SWD were left with 14 men in the last ten minutes after Quinten Petzer was yellow-carded, and Province used the man over to put their captain Rohan Kitshoff away one minute from full-time.

Replacement Freddie Muller converted, but it was too little too late for the visitors, who were unable to convert all their field and ball possession into points against their plucky opponents who forced them into making uncharacteristic errors with ball in hand.

DHL Western Province’s quarterfinal opponents will be confirmed after tomorrow’s final round of league fixtures.

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The scorers:

For the SWD Eagles:
Tries: Roberts, Bock
Cons: Aspeling 2
Pens: Aspeling 3

For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Van Aswegen, Kitshoff
Cons: R du Preez, Muller

The teams:

SWD Eagles: 15 Elric van Vuuren, 14 Hentzwill Pedro, 13 Daniel Roberts, 12 Martin du Toit, 11 Alshaun Bock, 10 Karlo Aspeling, 9 Danie Faasen, 8 Christo du Plessis, 7 Alwyn Bester, 6 Lyndon Hartnick, 5 Mzwanele Zito, 4 Grant le Roux, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Wayne Khan, 1 Grant Kemp (captain).
Replacements: 16 Layle Delo, 17 Quinton Petzer, 18 Andries van der Walt, 19 Johannes Stander, 20 Dillon Snell, 21 Anver Venter, 22 Deroy Rhoode.

DHL Western Province: 15 Robert du Preez, 14 JP Lewis, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Chevandre van Schoor, 10 Gary van Aswegen, 9 Jean Nel, 8 Carel du Preez, 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Rohan Kitshoff (captain), 5 Jan de Klerk, 4 Tazz Fuzani, 3 Entienne Swanepoel, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Sti Sithole.
Replacements: 16 Eital Bredenkamp, 17 Justin Ackerman, 18 Jan Uys, 19 Josh Katzen, 20 Freddie Muller, 21 Kyle Lombard, 22 Lihleli Xoli.

Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge