Flyhalf Brandon Thomson landed a penalty goal in the final act of the match to hand the table-topping DHL Western Province Under-21s a 38-35 win over Free State’s Under-21s in Bloemfontein on Friday.
The DHL WP U21s went into this match well aware of the challenge at hand this week, with head coach Robbie Fleck saying in the lead-up: “To me, Free State were the best team we played against in the first half of the season.
“Yes, we won 22-0, but they had us under the cosh for the first 30 minutes and, remember, we led by just 3-0 at half-time. We had to battle hard to subdue them and I have no doubt they will be even tougher at home (this time around).”
Today’s match was similar in some ways to their previous clash at DHL Newlands, but it was the DHL WP U21s who ran into an early 22-0 lead, thanks to three tries – two converted by Thomson – and a penalty goal from the Province No.10.
The Cheetahs U21s weighed in with a try of their own in the 34th minute, but ended the fist half with a numerical advantage when the DHL WP Under-21s had lock David Ribbans and fullback Grant Hermanus – both of whom had scored tries earlier – sin-binned within two minutes of each other.
Despite being two men down, however, it was Province who scored first in the second half through right-wing Khanyo Ngcukana (his second of the day) to extend their lead to an impressive 29-7 – thanks to Thomson’s excellent touchline conversion.
The Cheetahs then hit back with three tries – the first a penalty try – as they gamely edged their way back into this contest, leaving DHL WP’s U21s ahead by just 32-28, that after Thomson’s fifth successful shot at goal on the day.
Thomson landed his third penalty (six from seven overall) to make it 35-28 going into the final ten minutes, but the hosts did not lie down and their fifth try made it 35-35 with less two minutes left on the stadium clock.
The Free Staters took the restart and moved down the left-hand where the ball was turned and, with the visitors in possession, Robbie Fleck’s troops forced a penalty from about 30 metres out, which Thomson landed with aplomb to bring about the final whistle.
The win, Province’s sixth from seven starts in the 2015 Absa Provincial Under-21 season, saw them move onto 29 points on the log – seven ahead of the Lions who are still to play this weekend.
The scorers:
For Toyota Free State Cheetahs Under-21:
Tries: Swarts, Penalty try, Gordon, Maartens, Mkhabela
Cons: Vosloo 5
For DHL Western Province Under-21:
Tries: Ribbans, Hermanus, Ngcukana 2
Cons: Thomson 3
Pens: Thomson 4
The teams:
Free State Cheetahs Under-21: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Donavan Gissing, 13 Carel Jan Coetzee, 12 Nico Lee, 11 Lorenzo Gordon, 10 Andre Swarts, 9 Arrie Vosloo, 8 Nardus Erasmus, 7 Jasper Wiese, 6 Daniel Maartens, 5 Justin Basson (captain), 4 Boela Venter, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Reinach Venter, 17 Johan Kotze, 18 Johan Grundlingh, 19 Jean-Claude Fourie, 20 Zee Mkhabela, 21 Darren Baron, 22 Selvyn Davids.
DHL Western Province Under-21: 15 Grant Hermanus, 14 Khanyo Ngcukana, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Ryno Eksteen, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Rikus Bothma (captain), 7 Christo van der Merwe, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 David Ribbans, 4 Kobus van Dyk, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 Liam Hendricks.
Replacements: 16 Martin Wipplinger, 17 Wesley Adonis, 18 Burger van Niekerk, 19 Jacques Vermeulen, 20 SP Ferreira, 21 Jarryd Sage, 22 Sibahle Maxwane.
Referee: Sindile Ngcese