DHL Western Province picked up a second successive bonus-point victory in the 2014 Absa Currie Cup, running in six tries in their 41-17 win over the Vodacom Blue Bulls on a sunny Saturday afternoon at DHL Newlands.
Speedster Seabelo Senatla celebrated his first Absa Currie Cup appearance at DHL Newlands with two tries, whilst flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis once again put the icing on the cake with a near-faultless goalkicking display.
Prop Pat Cilliers, in his new role as vice-captain, grafted hard up front and collected his first try in Province colours, whilst the hosts’ other try-scorers were elusive No.8 Nizaam Carr, hard-working flanker Mike Rhodes and captain courageous Juan de Jongh.
Province ran into an early 7-0 lead, as scrumhalf Nic Groom tapped and went and fed Senatla for the run-in, before Jacques-Louis Potgieter put the Blue Bulls on the scoreboard with a penalty goal in the 14th minute.
Cilliers then crashed over from a rolling maul, Catrakilis again adding the extras, and when Carr sped over in the 24th minute it was all one-way traffic for the hosts who led 19-3.
The teams went into half-time with the score at 19-6 up, but the Bulls were first to score in the second half as Potgieter added two penalties to narrow the gap to 12-19.
Catrakilis hit back with a penalty goal of his own, before Senatla crossed for his second and Mike Rhodes powered over as DHL WP took another quick tap from a penalty to suddenly make it 36-12.
The Bulls did score a late try by replacement hooker Bongi Mbonambi – who, of course, will be joining WP Rugby in 2015 – but De Jongh’s try on full-time brought the near-17,000 crowd onto their feet as Cheslin Kolbe split the defence open when he ran back a stray Bulls kick.
De Jongh was in support and crashed over under the Danie Craven Stand, putting the icing on the cake in a truly impressive home Absa Currie Cup victory for the 2012 champions and 2013 runners-up, whose flanker Siya Kolisi walked off with the official Man of the Match honours.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Senatla 2, Cilliers, Carr, Rhodes, De Jongh
Cons: Catrakilis 4
Pen: Catrakilis
For the Blue Bulls:
Try: Mbonambi
Pens: Potgieter 4
The teams:
DHL Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Manuel Carizza, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Neil Rautenbach, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Ruan Botha, 19 Rynhardt Elstadt, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Jaco Taute.
Vodacom Blue Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann (captain), 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Hencus van Wyk, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Rudy Paige, 21 Tony Jantjies, 22 Jesse Kriel.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Quinton Immelman
Television Match Official: Jason Jaftha
