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Unbeaten DHL WP march on

PUBLISHED: April 30, 2016


DHL Western Province picked up their third consecutive victory when they beat the Xerox Golden Lions XV 27-24 at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

DHL Western Province picked up their third consecutive victory when they beat the Xerox Golden Lions XV 27-24 at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

The hosts outscored the Golden Lions XV by four tries to three, but it was a dramatic late penalty from fullback Grant Hermanus that sealed the victory after the teams had been deadlocked at 24-24.

DHL Western Province had the visitors on the back foot from the word go, and after launching a number of raids in the Xerox Golden Lions XV 22, the pressure eventually told as left wing Sibahle Maxwane intercepted to dart over for the opening try.

The Xerox Golden Lions XV got on the scoreboard shortly afterwards with a penalty from the boot of flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff, but the home side responded with another try as a clever move at the front of an attacking line-out saw hooker Mike Willemse dive over to take their lead out to 10-3.

DHL Western Province were dominating both territory and possession, and that resulted in a third try just before half-time as a patient team build up saw right wing Khanyo Ngcukana cross the whitewash.

The conversion from fullback Grant Hermanus gave the hosts a healthy 17-3 advantage at the break after an impressive 40 minutes, and things got even tougher for the visitors when their scrumhalf Ricky Schroeder was shown a yellow card early in the second half for tripping the ball-carrier with his foot.

Despite that setback the visitors were next to score as fullback Sylvian Mahuza got over for a try, but DHL Western Province hit back immediately as Willemse crossed for his second try to take their lead out to 24-10.

Hermanus was shown a yellow card shortly afterwards for repeated infringements from his team and the Golden Lions XV took advantage as Mahuza went over for his second try which reduced the deficit to 24-17 with 20 minutes left to play.

The Golden Lions XV managed to level things up through a converted try from replacement flyhalf Shaun Reynolds with just four minutes left, however a big scrum in the final stages gave Hermanus the opportunity to win the game, and he made no mistake with the penalty from close range.

The scorers:

For DHL Western Province:
Tries: Maxwane, Willemse 2, Ngcukana
Cons: Hermanus 2
Pen: Hermanus

For the Xerox Golden Lions XV:
Tries: Mahuza 2, Reynolds
Cons: Boshoff, Reynolds 2
Pen: Boshoff

DHL Western Province: 15 Grant Hermanus, 14 Khanyo Ngcukana, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Daniel du Plessis, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Scott van Breda, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Tertius Daniller, 7 Jurie van Vuuren, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 Chris van Zyl (captain), 4 Eduard Zandberg, 3 JP Smith, 2 Mike Willemse, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Kyle Whyte, 18 Meyer Swanepoel, 19 Eital Bredenkamp, 20 Damian Stevens, 21 Berton Klaassen, 22 JP Lewis.

Xerox Golden Lions XV: 15 Sylvian Mahuza, 14 Selom Gavor, 13 Nicolaas Hanekom, 12 Jacques Nel, 11 Anthonie Volmink, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ricky Schroeder, 8 Ruaan Lerm (captain), 7 Robert Kruger, 6 Stephan De Wit, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Lourens Erasmus, 3 Nico Du Plessis, 2 Pieter Jansen, 1 Arnout Malherbe.
Replacements: 16 Jannus Snyman, 17 Clinton Theron, 18 MB Lusaseni, 19 Derick Minnie, 20 Ashlon Davids, 21 Shaun Reynolds, 22 Jarryd Sage.

Referee: Rasta Rasivenghe