The Western Province took on the Blue Bulls at Newlands in Cape Town at 17:05, local time today in the return match in the Currie Cup. Wp won the match by dominating the Blue Bulls in the scrums, specially at loose head, where Wicus Blaauw dominated the Buls tight head, Werer Kruger. Wp won 25 / 19.
Fullback Joe Pietersen scored 20 points as Vodacom Western Province fought their way to a 25 / 19 (halftime 12 / 16) ABSA Currie Cup win over the Blue Bulls at Newlands on Saturday.
Victory lifted WP to 32 points on the standings, but they dropped to second place behind the Sharks on points’ difference. Still, beating the Bulls was all that counted and after falling behind 13 / 3 after 21 minutes it was a gutsy performance that cemented their credentials as potential Cup winners.
The WP tight five again dominated the tight exchanges, and the home team’s solitary try was a direct result of that unit’s power in the scrum when they destroyed the Bulls pack, allowing No 8 Luke Watson to score off the back in the 60th minute.
For the Bulls flyhalf Burton Francis contributed 14 points from four penalties and a conversion with centre Jaco Pretorius scoring their one try.
The first half was a torrid, physical affair with the Bulls starting the match with the kind of desperation you’d expect from a side that lost the week before.
The visitors forced a turnover from the kick-off after smothering WP lock Chris Jack as he claimed the ball. Although the big All Black had possession he was driven back and the Bulls were awarded a scrum.
From that set piece they camped inside WP territory and eventually the multi-phase possession took its toll with the home side forced to illegally slow the ball at the ruck. From the penalty Francis slotted the first of his penalties.
The Bulls maintained the pressure over the next 20 minutes and earned another easy penalty in the ninth minute that Francis duly slotted.
The only try of the half followed in the 21st minute when Pretorius slipped over in the corner after a build-up that went through five phases and ended with a clever over-the-top pass by centre Stefan Watermeyer to Pretorius.
But that signalled the beginning of WP’s total dominance as they rallied from the set back. For the remainder of the half they pounded the Bulls line repeatedly but couldn’t force a way through the organised and, at times, cynical defence.
Pietersen slotted penalties in the 25th, 27th and 40th minutes to add to his 19th minute penalty to keep the home side in the game while Francis added another Bulls penalty on the half hour.
In the second half Pietersen popped over two more penalties in the 46th and 55th minutes as the territory stats moved over 70% in favour of the home side. In the face of such unrelenting pressure the Bulls were forced into errors and blatant cynical play to stem the flow of ball in the direction of their line.
The match was still in the balance until Watson crashed over, which was just reward for the dominance that WP enjoyed and from that moment the Bulls were a beaten side. They managed a penalty after the finals whistle to secure a bonus point, but a home semi-final is now a long way off.
Scorers:
Bulls: 4 Penalties Burton Francis & 1 conversion, try by Jaco Pretorius
WP: 6 penalies Joe Petersen & 1 conversion, try by Luke Watson
Teams:
Western Province: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Juan De Jongh, 12 Morgan Newman, 11 Gio Aplon, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenhage, 8 Luke Watson (captain), 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Anton van Zyl, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 JD Moller, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Frikkie Welsh, 22 JJ Engelbrecht.
Blue Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Burton Francis, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Dewald Potgieter, 7 Pedrie Wannenburg, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün (captain), 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Fudge Mabeta, 19 Jacques Burger, 20 Dean Greyling, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Tiger Mangweni.
Referee: Pro Legoete
Assistant referees: Tiaan Jonker, Peter Allen (Scotland)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
@Boerboel – Let’s not go there!! 🙄
How was your ‘Big Day’?
@superBul – 343 A Bush Pub sounds like a great place to watch a match!!
361@carol – Hi, how are you?
My day was great, enjoyed every minute, the later the better.
@Boerboel – 359
Hey Boerboel, thanks!!
I hear we are both virgins and yours was a few days earlier?
Belated happy happy from my side too!!
That means you are a few days older than me, and GBS two days younger! 🙂
@carol – During working time too, but who will tell. 😀
364@SA Barbarians – Yeah a virgin I am!
Laaste sin in Rapport se berig,
n Laaste strafskop deur die Bulle na die eindfluitjie geblaas het, het die eindtelling op 25-19 gelaat en die Bulle is redelik blou huis toe.
@superBul -367- wou nog se ons het darem ons kleur behou en nie bebloed huistoe gestrompel nie.
Hello almal (fluister).
Heng, my kop is seer na gister se rugby en al die lemoene en vodka…..en ook SA Barbarian se bifday paatie wyn.
Gaan sleg met my….
@Pietman – Rustige Sondag middag in SA, amper soos in my kinderdae, nou rus die oumense en ons kinders moet slaap. Ons het n planvloer huis gehad en kon nie maklik uitglip nie, die oumense se ore luister fyn.
@superBul –
Willie se hy maak beesstert potjie onder die melkhoutboom op Franskraal, ma-le is ook daar vir die naweek.
Hy het my pas ge-mail.
Nou voel ek nog kukker……!
@Pietman – o hel dan gaan jy nou nie like wat ek jou nou vertel nie, ek het juis netnou n lekker kerrie beesstert gehad en daar is genoeg oor vir n 2nd helping later. Man ek stuur vir jou n virtual bak oor, hoop nie die posduiwe steel dit nie.
@superBul – @Pietman – Wonder of julle manne van putu (krummelpap) en tamatiesmoor hou. As ‘n oud Nataller is dit my kos daai saam met braaivleis. Veral saam met ‘n ribbetjie oor die kole eish
As die reen wegbly hier gaan ek nou-nou ‘n vuurtjie aansteek
@SA Barbarians – nou praat jy , putu pap is flippen lekker ek kry dit min, niemand weet hoe om dit behoorlik te maak nie.
@superBul – 374
Super ek het agtergekom hoe om dit in ‘n mikrogolfoond te maak – 20 minute dan is dit gaar en lekker krummelrig. Al wat ek dan mis is die aanbrandsel in die pot wat so lekker is.
@SA Barbarians – Die geheim is min water in die pot, baie roer met ‘n groot vurk en lae hitte sodat dit gaar stoom.
In ‘n mikrogolfoond dieselfde, maar op vol hitte en roer elke paar minute en gooi bietjies water by soos nodig
Rugby 365-
It was a thoroughly enjoyable match, full of life, a match to be involved in. It was not all pleasant. Booing never is and at Newlands there was booing. They booed when the Blue Bulls ran onto the field. They booed the referee when he penalised Western Province. They booed when Burton Francis kicked at goal.
Booing is not pleasant.
But it was so pleasant when the flags were waved – royal blue and light blue, though by far the royal blue with its white hoops outnumbered the pale blues. It was pleasant when they started Western Province, jou lekker ding. The doves in the Cape coo that way but not as raucously. It was pleasant when they sang Olé after Luke Watson’s try. The Mexican wave was enthusiastic and at least better than canned cheering.
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