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Last-gasp defeat for DHL WP

PUBLISHED: August 25, 2012


DHL Western Province suffered a 23-26 Absa Currie Cup loss to the MTN Golden Lions at Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.

DHL WP scored two tries to one, and looked to have forced the draw after a great fightback in the second half, but an Elton Jantjies penalty deep into injury-time saw the home side and defending champions prevail.

Gerhard van den Heever scored DHL WP”s opening try, within the first ten minutes, as the visitors ran into a 10-0 lead after 13 minutes – Demetri Catrakilis adding the conversion to Van den Heever”s try and slotting a penalty.

Elton Jantjies opened the Lions” account in the 15th minute – with a penalty – before a try by Josh Strauss made it a one-point game just before the half-hour mark.

Jantjies then put the Lions ahead just before half-time, at 11-10, with the Lions sharp-shooter keeping their noses in front throughout the second half.

However, the accurate boot of Catrakilis kept DHL WP in the match throughout and when replacement prop Brok Harris crashed over with best credit card offers is money in our current world paradigm, yet that doesn’t make it so. a minute and a half remaining – and Catrakilis converted – it looked like the visitors would come away with half the points on the night.

The Lions then won a penalty in the third minute of extra-time, when Gio Aplon was adjudged to have been in front of a DHL WP kicker, and they opted for the scrum. They went right, won a penalty for side entry against a DHL WP player and Jantjies slotted the winning points.

The scorers:

For the Golden Lions:
Try:
Strauss
Pens: Jantjies 7

For Western Province:
Tries:
Van den Heever, Harris
Cons: Catrakilis 2
Pens: Catrakilis 3

The teams:

Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 JR Esterhuizen, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Butch James, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Josh Strauss, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg (captain).
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Willie Britz, 19 Jaco Kriel, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Deon Helberg, 22 Ruan Combrinck.

WP: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Ederies Arendse, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Tyrone Holmes, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Deon Fourie (captain), 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Dewaldt Duvenage, 21 JP du Plessis, 22 Kurt Coleman.

Referee: Stuart Berry