DHL Western Province showed plenty of character to claim a 24-23 victory against the ORC Griquas at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
DHL Western Province showed plenty of character to claim a 24-23 victory against the ORC Griquas at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
It was the sixth victory for DHL Western Province in their seventh game as they handed the visitors from Kimberley their first defeat of the season, outscoring them by three tries to two.
The match got off to an intense start, and both teams visited the opposition 22 without being able to make it count on the scoreboard.
DHL Western Province struck first when flank Janco Venter burst through a powerful maul to score the opening try, but Griquas responded soon afterwards with a penalty from flyhalf Andre Swarts to make it 7-3.
The hosts launched another extended attacking raid and were awarded a number of penalties in Griquas’ half, which eventually resulted in three further points from the boot of flyhalf Scott van Breda which took their lead out to 10-3 after the opening 20 minutes.
However, a breakaway try from Griquas lock Jonathan Janse van Rensburg levelled the scores at 10-10 with 10 minutes before half-time.
A penalty on the stroke of half-time from Swarts then handed the visitors a slender 13-10 lead at the break.
Griquas were struck a blow at the start of the second half when flank Wendal Wehr was shown a yellow card for repeated infringements from his team, and DHL Western Province took advantage with a maul try from Chad Solomon which put them 17-13 ahead once converted by Van Breda.
A penalty from Swarts briefly made it a one-point game, but DHL Western Province responded with a try from Khanyo Ngcukana who showed great finishing skills to take his team’s lead to 24-16 with 20 minutes to play.
Griquas struck bak with a try from scrumhalf Tiaan Dorfling which cut the deficit to 24-23 with 10 minutes left to play, and the hosts managed to hold out for a deserved victory.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Venter, Solomon, Ngcukana
Cons: Van Breda 3
Pen: Van Breda
For ORC Griquas:
Try: Janse van Rensburg, Dorfling
Cons: Swarts 2
Pens: Swarts 3
Teams:
DHL Western Province: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Khanyo Ngcukana, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 JP Lewis, 10 Scott van Breda, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Kobus van Dyk, 7 Janco Venter, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 Chris van Zyl (captain), 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 JP Smith.
Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 Kyle Whyte, 18 Eital Bredenkamp, 19 Dale Wilson, 20 Damian Stevens, 21 Ryan Oosthuizen, 22 Grant Hermanus.
ORC Griquas: 15 Eric Zana, 14 AJ Coertzen, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Jonathan Francke, 11 Alshaun Bock, 10 Andre Swarts, 9 Tiaan Dorfling, 8 Jason Fraser, 7 RJ Liebenberg, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Jonathan Janse van Rensburg, 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Marius Fourie , 1 Devon Martinus.
Replacements: 16 AJ Le Roux, 17 Steph Roberts, 18 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 19 Jonathan Adendorf, 20 Sias Koen, 21 Clinton Swart, 22 Gouws Prinsloo.
Referee: Quinton Immelman