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Honours even at Ellis Park

PUBLISHED: August 30, 2013


DHL Western Province were held to a 31-31 draw in an entertaining Absa Currie Cup clash against the MTN Golden Lions at Ellis Park on Friday evening.

Province are still top of the log in the 2013 Currie Cup and remain the only unbeaten team after their second stalemate of the season – having also played to a 24-24 draw against Vodacom Blue Bulls in Round One.

It certainly was a game of two halves in Johannesburg, as DHL WP ran into a sensational 15-0 lead after just 16 minutes of play, only for the Lions to fight back strongly in the second half. (CLICK HERE for a photo gallery.)

WP led 25-10 at half-time, scoring three tries to one, before conceding a crucial penalty try in the 46th minute which also saw inside centre Damian de Allende yellow carded in harsh circumstances after making a try-saving tackle on Marnitz Boshoff.

De Allende had earlier scored WP's opening try, in the fifth minute, before that man Cheslin Kolbe announced himself to the Currie Cup public with a truly sensational individual score in the tenth minute.

Flyhalf Kurt Coleman converted Kolbe's try and landed a 16th-minute penalty goal to make it 15-0, with fullback Boshoff opening the Lions' account in the 24th minute with a penalty goal.

A converted Tiaan Liebenberg try four minutes later – the experienced hooker bowling over the hapless Lions defence – made it 22-3 to DHL WP, before the Lions hit back with a Deon Helberg try, in the midst of what looked like a knock-on in the lead-up to the try, to leave them trailing by 10-22 with half-time approaching.

Coleman, however, had one more say before the half-time break, his second penalty making it 25-10 at the end of the first half.

To their credit, Province 'won' the next part of the 10-minute period with De Allende in the bin by three points to nil, but the one-man overlap meant more work on defence for those fourteen players remaining on the park and that allowed the hosts to work their way back in.

The Lions slowly crept back into the game and took the lead with ten minutes remaining on the clock, having had 97% of the possession in the lead-up to captain Derick Minnie's try in the 69th minute.

WP, however, did not take that lying down and with five minutes left they were still chasing a potential victory and four-try bonus point as they camped in the Lions 22.

They bravely turned down a kickable penalty in search of the victory, before eventually settling for the draw on the stroke of full-time – Coleman landing his third penalty as the siren and referee's whistle sounded almost simultaneously.

“It was very frustrating as we let ourselves down in the last twenty minutes – like we did against the Blue Bulls in Round One,” said captain Deon Fourie afterwards. “We need to take a good look at ourselves, but we will take the two points away from home.

“We lost our structure a bit in the second half,” he added, “but we need to bounce back against the Sharks at home next week.”

Province have now played four matches in the 2013 Absa Currie Cup; winning two and drawing two for a total of 12 log points – three ahead of the Lions and the Sharks, with the latter due to face the Bulls in Durban tomorrow.

The scorers:

For the MTN Golden Lions:
Tries: Helberg, Penalty try, Jantjies, Minnie
Cons: Boshoff 4
Pen: Boshoff

For DHL Western Province:
Tries: De Allende, Kolbe, Liebenberg
Cons: Coleman 2
Pens: Coleman 4

The teams:

Golden Lions: 15 Marnitz Boshoff, 14 Deon Helberg, 13 Robert De Bruyn, 12 Dylan Des Fountain, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Guy Cronje, 8 Lambert Groenewald, 7 Derick Minnie (captain), 6 Warwick Tecklenburg, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Willie Britz, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 CJ van der Linde.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Hugo Kloppers, 19 JJ Breet, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Andries Coetzee.

DHL Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Michael Rhodes, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Gerbrandt Grobler, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Tim Swiel, 22 Michael van der Spuy.

Referee: Jaco Peyper