A late penalty goal from flyhalf Ernst Stapelberg handed the DHL Western Province Under-19 side a hard-fought 21-20 win over the EP Kings Under-19s at City Park on Saturday morning.
Both sides scored two tries in a hard-fought arm-wrestle, before Stapelberg landed the match-winning penalty in injury-time.
The lead had changed hands a few times in the closing stages, as a Justin Phillips try looked to have clinched the match for the DHL WP U19s towards the end of regulation time, before EP regained the lead at 18-17 as injury-time began.
To their credit, Province did not panic and they forced a penalty on defence which allowed Stapelberg to step up and land the winner in slightly windy conditions.
Earlier, the EP Kings went into half-time leading 10-3, before WP equalised and then went ahead through a converted try by lock David Ribbans.
The determined visitors – who had beaten the Lions in Johannesburg earlier this year – never let Province out of their sights, however, as replacement hooker Arno Lötter crashed over to put his team ahead again before Phillips’s try.
EP then regained the lead via fullback Malcolm Jaer’s penalty, before Stapelberg held his nerve to secure his team’s seventh win of the season and to push them back into the top two on the 2014 Absa Provincial Under-19 log.
The scorers:
For DHL Western Province Under-19:
Tries: Ribbans, Phillips
Con: Stapelberg
Pens: Stapelberg 3
For Eastern Province Kings Under-19:
Tries: Jaer, Lötter
Cons: Gibb, Baggott
Pens: Gibb, Jaer
The teams:
DHL Western Province Under-19: 15 Khanyo Ngcukana, 14 Grant Hermanus, 13 Jarryd Sage, 12 Brandon Thomson, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Ernst Stapelberg, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Dian Koen, 7 Luke Stringer, 6 Charlton Jonas, 5 Johan Momsen, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Francois van der Merwe, 2 Paul-Martin Wipplinger, 1 Frans van Wyk (captain).
Replacements: 16 Hanno Snyman, 17 Lebohang Mdakane, 18 Regardt Louw, 19 Floris Pelser, 20 Lohann Louw, 21 Damian Stevens, 22 Dewald Naude, 23 Adriaan Carelse.
Eastern Province Kings Under-19: 15 Malcolm Jaer, 14 Luca Dalla-Vecchia, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Luan Nieuwoudt, 11 Lindelwe Zungu, 10 Jason Baggott, 9 Kewan Gibb, 8 Wynand Grassmann, 7 Elandre van der Merwe, 6 Cyril-John Velleman (captain), 5 Sintu Manjezi, 4 Tyler Paul, 3 James Beyl, 2 Jean-Pierre Jamieson, 1 David Murray.
Replacements: 16 Arno Lötter, 17 Christopher Whiting, 18 Thembelihle Yase, 19 Gerrit Huisamen, 20 Mihlali Nchukana, 21 Martin Keller, 22 Vincient Moss, 23 Athi Mayinje.
Referee: Renier Vermeulen
