WP bully hapless Bulls
Western Province ran riot to keep their 100 percent Currie Cup record intact, beating the Blue Bulls 41-17 at Newlands on Saturday.
Speedster Seabelo Senatla celebrated his first Currie Cup appearance at Newlands with two tries, whilst flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis once again put the icing on the cake with a near-faultless goalkicking display.
Prop Pat Cilliers, in his new role as vice-captain, grafted hard up front and collected his first try in Province colours, whilst the hosts’ other try-scorers were elusive No.8 Nizaam Carr, hard-working flank Mike Rhodes and captain Juan de Jongh.
Province ran into an early 7-0 lead, as scrumhalf Nic Groom tapped and went and fed Senatla for the run-in, before Jacques-Louis Potgieter put the Blue Bulls on the scoreboard with a penalty in the 14th minute.
Cilliers then crashed over from a rolling maul, Catrakilis again adding the extras, and when Carr sped over in the 24th minute it was all one-way traffic for the hosts who led 19-3.
The teams went into half-time with the score at 19-6 up, but the Bulls were first to score in the second half as Potgieter added two penalties to narrow the gap to 12-19.
Catrakilis hit back with a penalty goal of his own, before Senatla crossed for his second and Rhodes powered over as WP took another quick tap from a penalty to suddenly make it 36-12.
The Bulls did score a late try by replacement hooker Bongi Mbonambi – who will be joining WP in 2015 – but De Jongh’s try on full-time brought the near-17,000 crowd onto their feet as Cheslin Kolbe split the defence open when he ran back a stray Bulls kick.
De Jongh was in support and crashed over, putting the icing on the cake in a truly impressive home Currie Cup victory for the 2012 champions.
The scorers:
For Western Province:
Tries: Senatla 2, Cilliers, Carr, Rhodes, De Jongh
Cons: Catrakilis 4
Pen: Catrakilis
For the Blue Bulls:
Try: Mbonambi
Con: Potgieter
Pens: Potgieter 4
Yellow card: Manuel Carizza (Western Province, 55 – cynical foul, slapping the ball away), JJ Engelbrecht (Blue Bulls, 57 – professional foul, throwing the ball away), Kobus van Wyk (Western Province, 61 – repeated infringements, offside), Grant Hattingh (Bluer Bulls, 65 – cynical foul, deliberately slapping the ball back)
Teams:
Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Manuel Carizza, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Neil Rautenbach, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Ruan Botha, 19 Rynhardt Elstadt, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Jaco Taute.
Blue Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann (captain), 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Hencus van Wyk, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Rudy Paige, 21 Tony Jantjies, 22 Jesse Kriel.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Quinton Immelman
TMO: Jason Jaftha
