The DHL Western Province Under-21 team suffered a heart-breaking 27-28 loss to their Golden Lions opponents in a pulsating Under-21 provincial clash at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

DHL WP U21 trailed by 0-13 at half-time and looked to have staged the comeback of all comebacks when a penalty try one minute from full-time gave them the lead for the first time in the game.

However, the Lions staged one final bit of attack to score in the left-hand corner after the final whistle and their kicker Marais Schmidt converted from touch to steal the win.

It was still one helluva fightback from the WP juniors, who had lock James Kilroe sin-binned in the first half and later replaced altogether when he succumbed to a serious-looking arm injury – another injury to add to the senior call-ups they have battled throughout in 2012.

Having begun the second half at 0-13 down, the WP U21s then launched a spirited fightback which saw big No.8 Rayn Smid crash over to narrow the deficit.

Further tries by Pat Howard (wing), Vince Jobo (replacement flank) and that penalty try suddenly saw John Dobson’s team in the lead but the game was not over as the visitors attacked straight from the restart and forced their way over – the conversion giving them the one-point win.

It was a cruel ending for the WP Under-21s who had shown such spirit to come back 13 points down and to score four tries in the second half, which, despite the loss, secured a four-try bonus point (and a losing bonus) for them.

The scorers:

For DHL WP Under-21:
Tries: Smid, Howard, Jobo, Penalty try
Cons: Swiel 2
Pen: Swiel

For Golden Lions Under-21:
Tries: Oosthuizen, De Bruyn, Moolman
Cons: Schmidt 2
Pens: Schmidt 3