WP win a Cup... at last

Western Province claimed their first Vodacom Cup title, and the union's first major senior trophy in over a decade, when they snatched a dramatic 20-18 victory over Griquas in the Final in Kimberley on Friday.

A Final is a cruel thing.

The prematch nerves are cruel, the tensions of the match are cruel, every error magnified many times, and then there is a winner and a loser and the gulf between the two is so, so cruel.

For Western Province there was ecstasy made even more sublime by the delayed nature of the win. For Griquas there was disappointment, the low troughs of bitter disappointment after a great season.

Honours to Western Province who took the lead for the first time when the match was 83 minutes old. Spare a thought for Griquas who fought with might and main only to loose the last ten minutes of a game they had in their grasp.

The sides each scored two tries but in the end kicking counted mightily. Griquas missed five penalty kicks at goal and a conversion – 17 points, enough to have happy braai fires to warm Northern Cape hearts on a chilly night.

The Vodacom Cup is 15 years old and Griquas have won it four times. Western Province had never been in a Final before Friday night and they looked set fair to lose it, till those last three minutes of play that ran on beyond the 80.

The advantages were with Griquas – the homeground advantage, their history of victory, not having a team above them which left them masters of their own fate. For Western Province it was hard – flying out of Cape Town at 5.30am on Thursday for a match at 7.10pm on Friday – lots of long waiting. They lost a player to the Stormers and went up to Kimberley with a big squad as JP du Plessis, Demetri Catrakilis, Rohan Kitshoff and Quinn Roux were doubtful Roux left after half an hour but the others played to the end, which was just as well as Kitshoff and Catrakilis composed the seven points that won the cup.

At the start you would not have given Western Province a price. They could not catch and they made gross errors as if sleepwalking. They kicked off but dropped the ball twice, were out of position for a long kick and conceded a line-out to Griquas who mauled. Leon Karemaker caught the throw in but Western Province repelled them – not all of them for they allowed Karemaker to burst ahead, brush Roux aside and score. Marnitz Boshoff converted from far out. 7-0 after 2 minutes.

Western Province did some running with the ball and looked better than their opponents whose variation of kicking was to bash with their big strong men who seemed to get bigger and stronger with each substitution.

Roux pushed François Brummer after he had kicked and was penalised. 10-0 after 15 minutes. But Western Province struck back.

From a scrum, on the right they went wide left and then came back wide right where three against three, Du Plessis and Marcel Brache contrived to give Danie Poolman an overlap and a short run to a try far out which Catrakilis converted. 10-7 after 19 minutes.

After Rocco Jansen had set his side attacking with a strong burst Griquas went through phases till for some mysterious reason Western Province were penalised at a tackle and Boshoff goaled. 13-7 after 36 minutes. But Karemaker got his timing wrong and tackled a man without the ball. 13-10, which was the half-time score but only just for Brummer was only just wide with a drop from 50 metres out.

Griquas had a wonderful 20 minutes or so in the second half when they dominated territory and possession. But for them there were danger signs as every now and again Western Province had a serious attack. In that half Western Province had a five-metre line-out and three five-metre scrums. They were held up over the line three times. Griquas had none of those advantages and that Western Province did not score from their chances was testimony to Griqua determination.

Catrakilis levelled the scores with a penalty and then Griquas won the kick-off and went on a long, bashing raid getting closer and closer to the Western Province line till prop Janro van Niekerk squeezed in for a try in the left corner. 18-13 to the home side after 48 minutes.

More and more Western Province got into the game. Tyrone Holmes burst for the line, Catrakilis had a long break that promised a try but Brummer held Brache up and Ederies Arendse sped a long way in counterattack. Western Province had a five-metre scrum and lost the ball; they had a five-metre line-out and lost the ball.

Just before the end Western Province lost Tom Botha and Schalk Ferreira, which meant uncontested scrums which suited Western Province much more than it suited Griquas.

Jean Stemmet held up Kurt Coleman which gave Western Province a scrum – an uncontested scrum and as the clock went past 80 minutes Western Province were still attacking – right left, right, left, right and then flank Rohan Kitshoff cut back straight and low to score a try. 18-18 with the conversion to come. Catrakilis kicked the conversion.

Man of the Match: Not easy. candidates were Jacques Coetzee, the Griquas scrumhalf, Rohan Kitshoff, Marcel Brache and our choice, Nick Fenton-Wells. The best defender on the field, the captain who never lost faith.

The scorers:

For Griquas:

Tries: Karemaker, Van Niekerk

Con: Boshoff

Pens: Boshoff 2

For Western Province:

Tries: Poolman, Kitshoff

Cons: Catrakilis 2

Pens: Catrakilis 2

The teams:

Griquas: 15 François Brummer, 14 Rocco Jansen, 13 PJ Vermeulen, 12 Matthew Rosslee, 11 Wilmaure Louw, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Jacques Coetzee, 8 Leon Karemaker, 7 Jonathan Adendorf, 6 Jaco Nepgen, 5 Ligtoring Landman, 4 Edwin Hewitt, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes (captain), 1 Janro van Niekerk.

Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Steph Roberts, 18 Ivann Espag, 19 Chase Minnaar, 20 Marnus Hugo, 21 Jean Stemmet, 22 Rudi Vogt.

Western Province: 15 Kurt Coleman, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Ederies Arendse, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nick Fenton-Wells (captain), 7 Tyrone Holmes, 6 Rohan Kitshoff, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Sidney Tobias, 1 Schalk Ferreira.

Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Deon Carstens, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Reuben Johannes, 20 Rick Schroeder, 21 Mike van der Spuy, 22 Berton Klaasen.

Referee: Lourens van der Merwe

Assistant referees: Rasta Rasivhenge, Pieter Janse van Vuuren

TMO: Gerrie Coetzee