Province catapult to top four, demolish Bulls

MATCH REPORT: A try by Western Province wing Luke Burger in the last minute of the game has afforded the home side a bonus point in their victory of 31-7 over the Bulls in Cape Town on Saturday.

This, Province’s first win since their home win over the Griffons early in April, catapulted them to the fourth spot on the Currie Cup log.

The Capetonians bullied the Bulls from the outset through their rush defence and great interplay between the forwards and the backs. This put the visitors under immense pressure and at times the frustration boiled over into small scuttles.

The Bulls’ defence was not up to scratch, while their attack seemed one-dimensional while Western Province, especially in the first half, denied the men from Pretoria any visitation rights in their half.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu got over the tryline in the first ten minutes of the game after Godlen Masimla put pressure on the Bulls’ No.9 Keagan Johannes who lost the ball. Feinberg-Mngomezulu went clean around Stedman Gans for this try.

Barely seven minutes later it was the turn of Man of the Match, Dylan de Leeuw, to show the defence clean heels after bumping off two Bulls forwards out of his way to score his first Currie Cup try.

The Bulls were denied any points in the first half, but came out with more of a game plan in the second, although it still took them an hour to get on the scoreboard through replacement Harold Vorster.

One man that must be sliming broadly after the game is Damian Markus who barely had to time to put his gum guard in, before he intercepted and managed to dive graciously for his first-ever Currie Cup try after mere minutes on the field.

And then it was the turn of Burger to drive the final nail in the Bulls’ coffin when he also intercepted for the bonus point try in they dying seconds of the game.

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Scorers:

For Western Province:
Tries: Feinberg-Mngomezulu, De Leeuw, Markus, Burger
Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3
Pens: Feinberg-Mngomezulu

For Bulls:
Try: Vorster
Con: Smith

Western Province: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Luke Burger, 13 Cornel Smit, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis (captain), 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Dylan de Leeuw, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Adre Smith, 21 Junior Pokomela, 22 Thomas Bursey, 23 Damian Markus.

Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Wandisile Simelane, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 David Kriel, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Keagan Johannes, 8 WJ Steenkamp, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig (captain), 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Janko Swanepoel, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Simphiwe Matanzima, 17 Johan Grobbelaar, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Harold Vorster.

Referee: Morne Ferreira
Assistant Referees: Local
TMO: Marius Jonker