A severely-depleted DHL Western Province Under-21 team suffered a narrow 14-18 loss to the Sharks at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

DHL WP U21 are currently without sixteen first-choice players – either through injuries or Absa Currie Cup call-ups – but, yet, they still managed to score the game’s only try through centre Dean Hammond.

Hammond’s try, through a cross-kick in the 10th minute, put DHL WP Under-21 into a 5-0 lead early on.

Two Fred Zeilinga penalties put the visitors ahead by 6-5, before Swiel regained the lead for DHL WP with his first penalty of the night. Zeilinga cancelled that out and then added another penalty goal as the Sharks juniors led 12-8 at the break.

Swiel and Zeilinga again traded penalties in the second half – two each – which just allowed the Sharks to keep their noses in front, despite a strong finish to the match by the lion-hearted DHL WP U21 side.

The scorers:

For DHL Western Province Under-21:

Try: Dean Hammond

Pens: Tim Swiel 3

For the Sharks Under-21:

Pens: Fred Zeilinga 6

The DHL WP Under-21 team: 15 Craig Barry, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Dean Hammond, 12 Kobus van Wyk, 11 Devon Williams, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Ricky Schroeder (captain), 8 JP Swanepoel, 7 Lungelo Chonco, 6 Beyers de Villiers, 5 Gerbrand Grobler, 4 Jan de Klerk, 3 Oliver Kebble, 2 Neil Rautenbach, 1 Francois van Wyk.

Reserves: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Kelvin de Bruyn, 18 James Kilroe, 19 Cobus Nel, 20 Andries Truter, 21 Clearance Khumalo, 22 David Ambunya.

Referee: Rodney Bonaparte