March 29, 2024

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Province to tackle Sharks in Currie Cup Final in Durban

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – OCTOBER 21: Dillyn Leyds of Western Province during the Currie Cup Semi Final match between DHL Western Province and Xerox Golden Lions at DHL Newlands on October 21, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Carl Fourie/ Gallo Images)

Adnaan Mohamed

Cape Town – Western Province booked their place in next week’s Currie Cup final against the Sharks at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.

Coach John Dobson’s side beat the Golden Lions 19-5 after leading 13-5 at halftime in the one semi-final at Newlands last night.

The Sharks secured a home final after they beat the Blue Bulls 37-27 in the other semi-final earlier in Durban.

It was clear that WP and the Lions were a bit nervous and tentative in their approach and it showed in their execution.

After all, many of the players were playing in the first-ever Currie Cup semi-final and were obviously scared of making mistakes.

Both sides were guilty of making errors under pressure which often resulted in certain passages of play in the game becoming a stop-start affair.

WP scored first with a well-taken penalty goal from flyhalf Robert du Preez.

Province lock JD Schickerling was yellow carded by referee Rasta Rasivhenge for a cynical foul from a Lions driving maul close to the WP try line.

The Lions decided to go for touch. From the ensuing lineout, the Lions shifted the ball which resulted in a try from their flyhalf Jaco van der Walt. The Lions pivot failed to convert his own try.

The home side launched several promising attacks, but handling mistakes in critical positions cost them dearly.

Midway through the first half captain, Chris van Zyl’s charges took the lead through another Du Preez penalty.

The home side launched a few promising attacks and came close to crossing the Lions whitewash on a number of occasions.

All their hard work were however negated at critical times because of careless handling errors.

Just before the break Lions coach, Swys de Bruin decided to replace his entire front row by bringing on Springboks Ruan Dreyer, Malcolm Marx and Jacobie Adriaanse.

Ironically, however, just after these changes were made, it was the young Springbok-tighthead prop Wilco Louw who burrowed over for the Province’s only try of the game. Du Preez succeeded with his third consecutive kick to increase the lead at halftime to 13-5.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – OCTOBER 21: Robert du Preez of Western Province during the Currie Cup Semi Final match between DHL Western Province and Xerox Golden Lions at DHL Newlands on October 21, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Carl Fourie/ Gallo Images)

After the break, Du Preez added another two penalties to stretch the lead to 19-5. This meant that the men from Johannesburg had to at least score two converted tries to get back into the game.

Province defended like trojans and managed to keep the Lions scoreless in the second half.

Nizaam Carr had a dynamic game at number eight for Province and was named the ofiicial Man of the Match.

Scorers:

WP -Try: Wilco Louw; Conversion: Robert du Preez, Penalties: Du Preez (4)

Golden Lions – Try: Jaco van der Walt

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