The DHL Western Province Under-19 team suffered a last-gasp 29-30 semifinal loss to the Blue Bulls’ Under-19s at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Friday.
Nazeem Adams’s charges were chasing an impressive fourth final place in six seasons and looked to be on their way to the 2015 Absa Provincial Under-19 Final, only to suffer a one-point defeat.
Fullback Tiaan Swanepoel, who has been such a mainstay for his team this season, missed a penalty after the final hooter but it would be unfair to blame the usually dependable Swanepoel, who is currently the leading points-scorer in the competition.
The DHL WP U19s were down 0-5 after just two minutes of play, with Bulls No.8 Denzel Hill crashing over from a maul, but the visitors dominated the remainder of the first half with right-wing Duncan Saal crossing to make it 5-5 after ten minutes.
A Swanepoel penalty goal made the score 8-5 after 15 minutes, with the scoreline unchanged right up until half-time when Bulls left-wing Divan Rossouw sped away for a score against the run of play.
The Province U19s recovered from the disappointment of trailing by 8-12 at half-time as powerful lock Jaco Willemse crashed over early in the second half, only for the Bulls to hit back straightaway through right-wing Coneree Poole.
At 15-19 down with 28 minutes left in Pretoria it was still anyone’s game and the DHL WP U19s showed their championship quality with two quick tries, by skipper Jaco Coetzee and inside centre Justin Heunis, to suddenly lead by 29-19.
The Bulls narrowed the gap with a penalty goal to make it 29-22 with 15 minutes left, before centre JT Jackson crossed for their fourth try (unconverted) to make it 29-27 to the DHL WP U19s with seven minutes remaining.
Jackson then put his team into the lead with a penalty three minutes from full-time, with Province then forcing a penalty after the full-time hooter had sounded for a high tackle.
Swanepoel stepped up to take the angled kick (from the right-hand side, inside the Bulls’ 10m line), but he just pushed it right to hand the hosts a place in the final.
It was a disappointed finish to the match for the Province youngsters, but they can hold their heads up high after coming so close to yet another final in the Absa Provincial Under-19 competition.
The scorers:
For Vodacom Blue Bulls Under-19:
Tries: Hill, Rossouw, Poole, Jackson
Cons: Jackson, De Beer
Pens: De Beer, Jackson
For DHL Western Province Under-19:
Tries: Saal, Willemse, Coetzee, Heunis
Cons: Swanepoel 3
Pen: Swanepoel
The teams:
Blue Bulls Under-19: 15 Kurt Webster, 14 Coneree Poole, 13 JT Jackson, 12 Franco Naude, 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 Tinus de Beer (captain), 9 Stephan Enslin, 8 Denzel Hill, 7 JD Fourie, 6 Arnold Gerber, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Sam Mitchell, 3 Jaco Holtzhausen, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Gavin van den Berg.
Replacements: 16 Junqgo Hennings, 17 Madot Mabokela, 18 Rohan Goosen, 19 Hendre Stassens, 20 Luigy van Jaarsveld, 21 Dale Hendricks, 22 Ruan de Beer, 23 Tshepiso Mahasha.
DHL Western Province Under-19: 15 Tiaan Swanepoel, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Eduan Keyter, 12 Justin Heunis, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Aidynn Cupido, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Jaco Coetzee (captain), 7 Saud Abrahams, 6 Mitchell Carstens, 5 Eduard Zandberg, 4 Jaco Willemse, 3 Michael Kumbirai, 2 Jacques van Zyl, 1 Ruben Terblanche.
Replacements: 16 Percy Mngadi, 17 Derrick Marais, 18 Nathan Meilhon, 19 Human Bodenstein, 20 Charl-Francois du Toit, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Wayne Smith, 23 Gerard Pieterse.
Referee: Archie Sehlako
