The DHL Western Province hosted the Fidelity ADT on Friday and despite dominating all aspects of the match they trailed 12-17 at the halftime break and lost 12-34.
The Fidelity ADT Lions scored the first try from the kickoff as they attacked from the word go, with Edwill van der Merwe strolling over for his try.
Thereafter the DHL Western Province started to dominate possession and territory and scored their first try after twenty minutes of play. Mnombo Zwelendaba scored in the corner following wave after wave of attacks with the defence of the Fidelity ADT only beaten with a skip pass out wide. The Fidelity ADT Lions still led 07-05 following the try of the host.
Edwill van der Merwe ran a perfect line to score his second try from within the Fidelity ADT Lions' half to extend their lead to 17-05 with minutes to play in the first half. However, the DHL Western Province attacked from the kickoff and a yellow card shown to Ruan Dreyer (Fidelity ADT Lions) gave them the upper hand in the scrums which resulted in a penalty try following illegal scrummaging by the visitors. The Fidelity ADT Lions still lead 17-12 going into the second half.
No points were scored during the first twenty-five minutes of the second half in which the Fidelity ADT Lions clawed their way back into the match. The Fidelity ADT Lions were awarded a penalty five meters from the DHL Western Province's try line from which Ruan Dreyer took a tap and passed to Ruan Venter who bulldozed this way over the hosts' tryline.
A converted penalty by Sanele Nohamba extended the Fidelity ADT Lions' lead to 27-12 with just ten minutes left to play. The Fidelity ADT Lions looking for the vital bonus point try mercilessly attacked during the final minutes and scored their fourth and bonus point try when Ruan Venter stretched to score his second try of the match.
Scorers:
DHL Western Province: Try: Mnombo Zwelendaba, Penalty try.
Fidelity ADT Lions: Tries: Edwill van der Merwe (2), Ruan Venter (2). Conversions: Sanele Nohamba (4). Penalties: Sanele Nohamba (2).
Teams:
DHL Western Province: 15 Luke Burger, 14 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Tom Nel, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis (c), 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Louw Nel, 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Kwenzo Blose. Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 George van der Westhuizen, 20 Chad Solomon, 21 Thomas Bursey, 22 Jurie Matthee, 23 Lloyd Koster.
Fidelity ADT Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Boldwin Hansen, 13 Rynardt Jonker, 12 Marius Louw (c), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien-Lane Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Ruan Dreyer. Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Rhynardt Rijnsburger, 18 Ruan Smith 19 Raynard Roets, 20 Ruhan Straeuli, 21 Morne van der Bergh 22 Andries Coetzee, 23. Tyler Bocks.