DHL Western Province made it five straight wins in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge this season with a 27-13 victory against Eastern Province at DHL Newlands on Saturday.
They were made to work hard for it by their Cape counterparts, but outscored them by three tries to one in the end to extend their unbeaten run.
The opening 20 minutes were fiercely contested but scoreless, with both teams testing out the defence without breaking through.
The visitors opened the scoring with two consecutive penalties from centre Ntabeni Dukisa before DHL Western Province responded with a penalty of their own as flyhalf Abner van Reenen hoofed it over from the halfway line.
The Eastern Cape side also managed to score the first try as wing Riaan Arendse finished off a counter-attack.
DHL Western Province had the final say in the first half as replacement centre David Brits was put through by some slick handling on the half-time hooter to reduce Eastern Province’s lead at the break to 13-10.
The start of the second half was tense, but eventually the breakthrough came for DHL Western Province as No.8 Marno Redelinghuys forced his way over from close range for the second try.
The conversion from Van Reenen gave them the lead for the first time in the match and the flyhalf extended it to 20-13 shortly afterwards with a penalty.
The third and final DHL Western Province try came at the death as flank Chris Massyn went over after a maul to seal the 27-13 win.
The scorers:
For DHL WP:
Tries: Brits, Redelinghuys, Massyn
Cons: Van Reenen 3
Pens: Van Reenen 2
For EP Elephants:
Try: Arendse
Con: Dukisa
Pens: Dukisa 2
DHL Western Province: 15 Craig Barry (captain), 14 Nico Leonard, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Lyle Hendricks, 11 Sihle Njezula, 10 Abner van Reenen, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Marno Redelinghuys, 7 Brandon Valentyn, 6 Chris Massyn, 5 David Meihuizen, 4 Ben-Jason Dixon, 3 Michael Kumbirai, 2 Schalk Erasmus, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 18 Curtly Thomas, 19 Alwayn Carstens, 20 Deon Carstens, 21 David Brits, 22 Andre Manual.
