The DHL Western Province had to work hard for a 22-14 win against the Airlink Pumas in Cape Town on Friday evening. The conversion by captain Jean-Luc du Plessis with time up denying the Airlink Pumas a bonus point which could prove to be vital at the end of the league matches.
Apart from the starting minutes of the match the DHL Western Province dominated the rest of their half, however, severl mistakes made by the host combined with the great defence of the Airlink Pumas restricted the hosts to two tries in the first half. DHL Western Province led 12-07 at the halftime break.
The second half was a much closer affair with the Airlink Pumas again scoring an early try to take a 14-12 lead. DHL Western Province converted a penalty with eight minutes left to play. The host upped the pressure on the Airling Pumas following the penalty, using their dominance in the scrums to force several penalties awarded to them. A Adre Smith try after time was up secured the hosts a 22-14 win, denying the Airlink Pumas a bonus-point.
The Airlink Pumas pounced on a mistake made by DHL Western Province from a lineout in the opening minutes. Cameron Dawson scored next to the poles following a great run by the prop dodging several tackles to open the scoring.
Godlen Masimla sniped next to a loosescrum to score next to the poles to level the scores 07-07. The DHL Western Province dominant at this stage as they launched wave after wave of attacks on the Airlink Pumas tryline.
Lundi Msenge (Airlink Pumas) was sent off with a yellow card, after twenty-two minutes of play.
DHL Western Province used their dominance to set up camp in the red zone of the Airlink Pumas. Captain Jean-Luc du Plessis crashed over for the hosts' second try following a great scrum by the DHL Western Province to lead 12-07 which was also the score at the halftime break.
The Airlink Pumas started the second half with a new frontrow and upped their attack since the word go. Brilliant passing by the Airlink Pumas backline following a 5m lineout maul gave Lundi Msenge enough space out wide to score the Airlink Pumas' second try to lead 14-12 after eight minutes of play in the second half.
The Airlink Pumas clawed themselves back into the game, howver, mistakes on the attack combined by their hosts' defence kept them from scoring and the score remained 14-12 in favour of the Airlink Pumas with twenty minutes left to play..
DHL Western Province captain, Jean-Luc du Plessis converted a penalty with seven minutes remaining to play in the match to give the DHL Western Province a one point 15-14 lead.
With time up Adre Smith crashed over to scored the hosts' third try, following several pick up and goes to secure a 22-14 win.
Conversions:
DHL Western Province: Tries: Godlen Masimla, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Adre Smith. Conversions: Jean-Luc du Plessis (2). Penalty: Jean-Luc du Plessis.
Airlink Pumas: Tries: Cameron Dawson, Lundi Msenge. Conversion: Tinus de Beer (2).
Teams:
DHL Western Province: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Luke Burger, 13 Cornel Smit, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Tom Nel, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis (captain), 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Louw Nel, 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Chad Solomon, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Kwenzo Blose. Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 Andre Goedhals, 20 Armand Maritz, 21 Thomas Bursey, 22 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 23 Duncan Saal.
Airlink Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Lundi Msenge, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Andrew Kota, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Chriswill September, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Anele Lungisa, 6 Andre Fouche, 5 Shane Kirkwood (c), 4 Malembe Mpofu, 3 Njabulo Gumede, 2 Corne Fourie, 1 Cameron Dawson. Replacements: 16 PJ Jacobs, 17 Ettienne Janeke, 18 Simon Raw, 19 Deon Slabbert, 20 Franna Kleinhans, 21 Giovan Snyman, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Etienne Taljaard.