DHL Western Province went down 22-12 against the Steval Pumas in their Currie Cup encounter in Nelspruit on Friday night.
Despite leading 12-3 at half-time, DHL Western Province were unable to stop a strong comeback from the home side at the Mbombela Stadium.
The visitors made a determined start in the frantic opening phases and their patience was duly rewarded when lock JD Schickerling went over for the opening try.
The hosts got on the scoreboard with a penalty from flyhalf Kobus Marais, but thise were to be their only points of the first half as the DHL Western Province defence held up well.
The second try came against the run of play as Seabelo Senatla grabbed an intercept to race away and put his team 12-3 up at half-time.
The Steval Pumas struck first in the second half as a clearance was charged down and pounced on to reduce the DHL Western Province lead to 12-10.
The home side hot the lead for the first time in the game as an extended period of pressure saw Frank Herne drive over to make it 17-12 with 20 minutes left to play.
DHL Western Province were struck a further blow when Jano Vermaak was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, leaving them a man down.
Wing Jerome Pretorius was next to score for the Steval Pumas, which gave his side a 10-point lead which they would maintain until the final whistle.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Schickerling, Senatla
Con: Willemse
For Steval Pumas:
Tries: Marais, Herne, Pretorius
Cons: Marais 2
Pen: Marais
DHL Western Province: 15 Craig Barry, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Ruhan Nel, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Nizaam Carr (50th DHL Western Province cap), 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Michael Kumbirai, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Caylib Oosthuizen, 19 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 20 Dewaldt Duvenage, 21 Robert du Preez, 22 Werner Kok.
Steval Pumas: 15 Justin van Staden, 14 Jerome Pretorius, 13 Gerrit Smith, 12 Hennie Skorbinski (c), 11 Ruwellyn Isbell, 10 Kobus Marais, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Lambert Groenewald, 6 Thembelani Bholi, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Stefan Willemse, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Mark Pretorius, 1 Khwezi Mona.
Replacements: 16 Frank Herne, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Cameron Lindsay, 19 Brian Shabangu, 20 Hilton Lobberts, 21 Reynier van Rooyen, 22 Selom Gavor.