DHL Western Province scored five tries in their Carling Currie Cup encounter with the Vodacom Bulls, but went down 45-34 at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday night.

The visitors were left frustrated by three yellow cards, but fought hard until the end and produced some encouraging moments on attack.

DHL WP were forced to defend early on as the home side pinned them in their half and eventually it was Morne Steyn who opened the scoring with a penalty.

DHL WP responded with a try to take the lead as hooker JJ Kotze went over from a powerful maul.

The Vodacom Bulls then came up with two tries to take control as first prop Rob Hunt forced his way over and then scrumhalf Keagan Johannes scored following a yellow card for Cornel Smit.

However, despite being down to 14 DHL WP fought their way back into the game, with Marcel Theunissen capping a period of pressure in the 22 by swerving to score before Tim Swiel ended the half with a penalty to make it 17-15 at the break.

The home team scored first in the second half, with David Kriel dotting down in the corner and Steyn adding the touchline conversion.

DHL WP hit back straight away, with the forwards taking it deep into the 22 before it went to Swiel, who put Smit over for the try with a great inside ball.

Kriel scored in the corner again to restore the nine-point lead and DHL WP were down to 14 again with replacement Jarrod Taylor shown a yellow card this time.

The Vodacom Bulls eventually took advantage with replacement prop Lizo Gqoboka forcinf his way over for a try.

DHL WP kept coming and they got reward when a flying Tristan Leyds soared over in the corner for the bonus point try.

The home side were awarded a penalty try after a maul was collapsed, but DHL WP had the final say as Angelo Davids got on the end of a grubber from Leyds and stepped the last man to score.

The scorers:

For DHL WP:
Tries: Kotze, Theunissen, Smit, Leyds, Davids
Cons: Swiel, Wolhuter
Pen: Swiel

For Vodacom Bulls:
Tries: Hunt, Johannes, Kriel 2, Gqoboka, penalty try
Cons: Steyn 5
Pen: Steyn

DHL Western Province: 15 Tristan Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Timothy Swiel, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Nama Xaba (captain), 5 Connor Evans, 4 Ben-Jason Dixon, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 Lukhanyo Vokozela, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Simon Miller, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Bobby Alexander, 22 Kade Wolhuter, 23 Mnombo Zwelendaba.

Vodacom Bulls: James Verity-Amm, David Kriel, Stedman Gans, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Stravino Jacobs, Morne Steyn (captain), Keagan Johannes; Muller Uys, WJ Steenkamp, Jaco Labuschagne, Janko Swanepoel, Rynhardt Ludwig, Robert Hunt, Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima.
Replacements: Joe van Zyl, Lizo Gqoboka, Sebastian Lombard, Raynard Roets, Werner Gouws, Bernard van der Linde, Juan Mostert, Richard Kriel.