Province off to a flyer

WP scored a bonus-point 43-19 win over Griquas in Kimberley on Friday.

Outscoring the home team by six tries to three – including a brace from Sevens Springbok Seabelo Senatla – they were simply too fast and too clinical for Griquas.

Although the Kimberley outfit briefly threatened in the first half, a quick two-try punch in the second quarter allowed WP to race into a 24-7 lead at half-time.

Griquas had another golden patch midway through the second half, with two tries allowing them to close the gap to 19-31, but another two-try burst by Province in the final 10 minutes sealed the win.

The defending champions showed plenty of promise in their first competitive hit-out of the year.

New coach John Dobson would have been pleased with many aspects of his team's performance, but a bit worried with their discipline – as they conceded a host of penalties and also had forwards Jean Kleyn (first-half) and Rynhardt Elstadt (second-half) sin-binned.

Province shrugged off those yellow cards to score tries on both occasions of being a man down.

No.8 Nizaam Carr opened the scoring in the ninth minute, only for Griquas to hit back almost soon afterwards with a converted try of their own.

A Demetri Catrakilis penalty made it 10-7 after 14 minutes, before Senatla opened his try tally in the 22nd minute – having been denied twice by the TMO beforehand.

WP were not done in the first half, however, as right-wing Dillyn Leyds scored his first-ever Currie Cup try, despite Kleyn being in the bin, the visitors acting fast after winning a penalty in the Griquas 22 – tapping and going left where Leyds cruised over.

The half-time scored was 24-7 to Western Province, the only question being when they would get their fourth try – and bonus point.

However, the second half started a bit on the slow side for the visitors, who did ring the changes throughout the second forty minutes.

Debutant hooker Marius Fourie was first on, right after the break, with Bongi Mbonambi having given a good 40 minutes, but WP had to wait 11 minutes before opening their tally in the second half.

It came, rather predictably one might add, from Senatla – the official Currie Cup Man of the Match using a combination of his pace and footballing skills to rack up his second try and put the defending champions ahead by a comfortable margin of 31-7.

The changes came thick and fast for Province afterwards, with Griquas replying with two tries of their own, but it was the visitors who ended the match on a high through brilliant tries by Sikhumbuzo Notshe and captain Juan de Jongh.

Notshe's try, in particular, was a beauty as virtually every single Province player got in on the act before captain De Jongh straightened and off-loaded to the impressive WP No.7 who crossed unopposed.

De Jongh's try, meanwhile, came off a scrappy base but the captain benefitted from a strong chase by Senatla and himself before dotting down in the left-hand corner to put the icing on the cake for the rampant defending champions.

Man of the match:  Some Griquas players can hold their heads high – most notably Carel Greeff and RJ Liebenberg. However, the real heroes were in blue-and-white stripes – Cheslin Kolbe, Nizaam Carr, Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Bongi Mbonambi – to name just a few. Our award goes to Western Province's  Sevens Springbok Seabelo Senatla, who hardly put a foot wrong – scoring two tries, creating another and being involved in the build-up to a fourth. Then he even won a turnover at the breakdown.

The scorers:

For Griquas:

Tries: Le Roux, Viljoen, Nel

Cons: Prinsloo, Dukisa

For Western Province:

Tries: Carr, Senatla 2, Leyds, Notshe, De Jongh

Cons: Catrakilis 5

Pen: Catrakilis

Yellow cards: Jean Kleyn (Western Province, 23 – professional foul, not retreating 10 metres and tackling a player), Rynhardt Elstadt (Western Province, 61 – repeated infringements, killing the ball at the ruck)

Teams:

Griquas: 15 Gouws Prinsloo, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Ntabeni Dukisa, 10 Riaan Viljoen, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Carel Greeff, 7 Nardus van der Walt, 6 RJ Liebenberg, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 Abraham le Roux, 1 Danie Mienie.

Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Stephan Kotze, 18 Jaco Nepgen, 19 Leon Karemaker, 20 Rudi van Rooyen, 21 Jacquin Jansen, 22 Ngcobo Sandile.

Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Oliver Kebble.

Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 Chris van Zyl, 19 Chris Cloete, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Johnny Kotze, 23 Charlie van Jaarsveld.

Referee: Jaco Peyper

Assistant referees: Lourens van der Merwe, Jaco Kotze

TMO: JJ Wagner