The DHL Western Province team suffered a last-gasp 24-23 defeat to the Sharks XV in their Vodacom Cup clash at City Park on Saturday.
It was a heart-breaking defeat for Western Province who – up until today – had not suffered a loss in the Vodacom Cup since 2011.
WP led 23-17 going into the final few minutes of play, with a converted try (by Springbok fullback Riaan Viljoen), on the stroke of full-time, winning the game for the visitors.
The Sharks XV had led 14-9 at half-time (two converted tries v two penalties and one drop-goal by Gary van Aswegen), but WP scored two brilliant second-half tries (by Michael van der Spuy and Rayn Smid) to lead a ding-dong affair by 23-17 with just over five minutes left on the clock.
Coach John Dobson was left to lament his team’s discipline in the match, and was also handed some bad news on the injury front with prop Chris Heiberg (bicep) and lock Ryan Olivier (knee) suffering serious injuries.
In fact, those injuries, coupled with cards to replacement prop Dylan Rogers (red card) and Tjoppie Ferreira (yellow card), saw Province finish the match with just 12 players on the field.
Dobson said: “Our discipline wasn’t good enough – that cost us.
“We’re obviously very disappointed with the loss but those injuries make it a bit worse for us. We had a few going into the game and we also lost (lock) Gerbrandt Grobler to concussion.”
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Van der Spuy, Smid
Cons: Van Aswegen 2
Pens: Van Aswegen 2
DG: Van Aswegen
For the Sharks XV:
Tries: Sithole, Maseko, Viljoen
Cons: Zeilinga 3
Pen: Zeilinga