A DHL Western Province Vodacom Cup XV selection were full value in their 41-6 pre-season win over a Boland Invitational XV at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

Having led 10-6 at the break, after tries by impressive flanker Sikhumbuzo Notshe and the elusive Devon Williams, DHL WP showed great skill to notch up five more tries in the second half.

The poor weather conditions did not make things easy for the DHL WP selection but second-half tries by Kyle Lombard, Vince Jobo, Berton Klaasen, Chevandre van Schoor and Jean Kleyn added some shine to the scoreline.

Young No.10 Chris Smith, who was still at school last year, kicked three conversions for the DHL WP team.

Whilst handling was tough in the wet conditions at the Cape Town Stadium, there was some good interplay between backs and forwards in the latter stage of the second half and the team’s defence held out well yet again – conceding no tries on the day.

The WP XV have now played warm-up games against SK Walmers, Durbanville-Bellville and, of course, Boland; giving coach John Dobson another opportunity to give the province’s top club players a run and also allowing him more time to mull over selections ahead of the team’s pre-season tour and Vodacom Cup title defence.

The DHL WP XV scorers:
Tries: Notshe, Williams, Lombard, Jobo, Klaasen, Van Schoor, Kleyn
Cons: Smith 3

The DHL WP XV team: 15 Craig Barry, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Kobus van Wyk, 12 Berton Klaasen, 11 Devon Williams, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Godlin Masimla, 8 Rayn Smid, 7 Vince Jobo, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler (captain), 4 Ruan Botha, 3 Tjoppie Ferreira, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 1 Ashley Wells.
Reserves: 16 Shameeg Allen, 17 Wesley Chetty, 18 Christo van Wyk, 19 Jean Kleyn, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Johnny Kotze, 22 Kyle Lombard, 23 Chevandre van Schoor, 24 Craig Pheiffer, 25 Cobus Nel, 26 Carel du Preez, 27 Jody Reyneke.