DHL Western Province scored six tries on their way to a hard-fought 39-30 win against the Airlink Pumas in Stellenbosch on Sunday.

It was a tense Carling Currie Cup encounter at Danie Craven Stadium, but DHL Western Province did enough to claim a full five log points in the end.

The home side dominated the opening exchanges and the pressure eventually told as Courtnall Skosan scored out wide to cap a period of pressure.

Skosan was over for the second try as well when scrumhalf Imad Khan sniped on the blindside from a maul before switching it to the wing.

The visitors scored their first try through prop Etienne Janeke, who forced his way over from close range.

DHL Western Province’s third try came in the same corner as Wandisile Simelane took an inside ball from his centre partner Damian Markus, who had done well to get on the end of a cross-kick.

However, it was the Mpumalanga team that would go into the half-time break with a slender lead as a penalty from centre Clinton Swart was followed up by a try out wide from Deon Slabbert, with Swart’s touchline conversion giving the visitors a 17-15 advantage.

Markus busted over early in the second half for the bonus point try, with the Airlink Pumas responding through replacement scrumhalf Ross Braude to take the lead back and they took it out to five points when Swart slotted a penalty on the hour mark.

Skosan went over for his hat-trick with just over 15 minutes to play, which put the home side back in the lead by just two points.

The teams traded penalties in the final stages before Joseph Dweba scored from a maul at the death to put the result beyond doubt.

The scorers:

For DHL WP:
Tries: Skosan 3, Simelane, Markus, Dweba
Cons: Libbok 2, Matthee
Pen: Matthee

For Airlink Pumas:
Tries: Janeke, Slabbert, Braude
Cons: Swart 2
Pens: Swart 3

DHL Western Province: 15 Luke Burger, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Damian Markus, 11 Gino Cupido, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Divan Fuller, 7 Hendre Stassen, 6 Willie Engelbrecht (captain), 5 Gary Porter, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Corne Weilbach, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Bryan le Roux, 19 Ruben van Heerden, 20 Dave Ewers, 21 Sibusiso Sangweni, 22 Dewaldt Duvenage, 23 Jurie Matthee.