DHL Western Province and the New Nation Pumas played out a thrilling 40-40 draw in their Carling Currie Cup encounter at Newlands on Sunday.
Both teams scored six tries and kicked five conversions to end deadlocked after an intense 80 minutes.
DHL Western Province made the perfect start as they came from their own half and sent the ball wide to left wing Edwill van der Merwe, who scored in the corner.
The visitors levelled the scores soon afterwards with a try from their flyhalf Eddie Fouche, but the home side were back in front when a Tim Swiel cross-kick found Dan du Plessis, with the centre scoring in the right corner.
There was another try in the same corner a few minutes later when a beautifully floated pass from Warrick Gelant found Seabelo Senatla who stepped to score.
The New Nation Pumas responded with a maul try from hooker Simon Westraadt, but DHL Western Province had the bonus point secured before half-time as prop Sazi Sandi crashed over to round off a flowing attacking movement.
The Mpumalanga team had the final word in the first half as flank Daniel Maartens scored from another maul, but it was DHL Western Province who took a 26-19 lead into the break after a breathless first half which featured seven tries.
DHL Western Province were first to strike in the second half as Senatla was put into space on the outside, cut back inside and found Paul de Wet in support before getting the ball back from the scrumhalf to score his second try.
The New Nation Pumas got their fourth try as lock Shane Kirkwood bashed over from close range, to being them back within a try at 33-26.
DHL Western Province showed good composure and patience on attack and got the reward with their sixth try as replacement Tristan Leyds got through a gap to score.
The New Nation Pumas came up with two late tries to tie the game up at 40-40, which is how it ended.
The scorers:
For DHL WP:
Tries: Van der Merwe, Du Plessis, Senatla 2, Sandi, Leyds
Cons: Swiel 5
For New Nation Pumas:
Tries: Fouche, Westraadt, Maartens, Kirkwood, Cronje, Swart
Cons: Fouche 5
DHL Western Province: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 David Meihuizen, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Leon Lyons.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Deon Fourie, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Rikus Pretorius, 23 Tristan Leyds.
New Nation Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastián de Klerk, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Matt More, 11 Ettiene Taljaard, 10 Eddie Fouche, 9 Ginter Smuts, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Phumzile Maqondwana, 6 Daniel Maartens, 5 Pieter van Vuuren, 4 Shane Kirkwood, 3 IG Prinsloo, 2 Simon Westraadt, 1 Etienne Janeke.
Replacements: 16 Eduan Swart, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Marne Coetzee, 19 Kwanda Dimaza, 20 Khwezi Mafu, 21 Chriswill September, 22 Ali Mgijima, 23 Tapiwa Mafura.