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
Well done to Province and Cheetah supporters…sounds as if it was a close game…
Next week Sharks and Bulls…doesn’t get easier does it.
271@Irish Devil – No, it does’nt get easier…
@sharky_forever –
:-=)
I knew that one would have you choking on your Lion Ale….hell, I miss that beer…
Natal was the last place you could find that, before it went of the shelves…
You still remember Lion Ale bro?
Before LL came with Whitbread and Colt45 and piss in a blik?
@Pietman – Wat kan ek se…like a trout to a fly 🙂 but you know i dont get emotional about it….Sharks have a 49/51 chance at Loftus this year with the Boks back. Front row the Bulls will battle second row Bulls are way ahead….looosies I fancy Natals chances this year…halfback pairing even…fullback Natal edge it…wings even.
Next week the Sharks edge the Bulls in most depts.
@grootblousmile – Well bonus points are important GBS and they are getting them
270 @grootblousmile – nou wonder ek, moet daardie bokke soos WO en Kanko die hele week in NZ bly, al is hul nie deel van die 22-tal nie ? Ons mis vir WO lyk my die meeste van al ons bokke.
@Pietman – Lion Ale, the beer that Natal made famous.
@4man – 269
# fotos gestuur se my of jy gekry het?
268 @vanStraaten – ja, ek weet, ons verskil maar oor daardie een, al reeds van die ‘dark side’ (keo) dae.
@4man –
I hear you.
This thing isn’t over yet.
But WP was expected to win, and they did, so did the Sharks.
This CC is going to be between Sharks/Bulls at the end, again…
@superBul – Ek sien niks…het jy na die langeraadt adres gestuur?
@4man –
Yip, before they went off the scene, you could only get a Lion Ale in Natal Highlands….drank my last one there, near Vryheid….
Volgende week is dit Cthas teen WP in BFN. Nou raak dit al moeiliker vir die Bulle, wie wil hul hê moet wen, veral in die lig van die feit dat hul volgende week Sharks speel. As Ctahs wen, skuif hul verby Bulle, as Bulle verloor. Wen WP, dan bly Bulls in vierde plek. Lyk my gelykop bly die beste. 😉
@Pietman – I took a chance on the Bulls attitude and they needed a win, but it didnt come off….its the one decision I agonised over, I only seperated them by 1 point. I see Boerboel got it right the other way!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend guys and let’s see the Boks hit back next =week
@Pietman – They tried to bring it out again in the blue tin, but it didnt work…it wasnt the same beer. Never was my favourite though.
@4man –
Cheers SM.
It was a good day all round, good banter and the beers weren’t too flat either.
See you around, stay well there.
G’nite all.
@Pietman – 😆 broer nou praat jy
i often talk of lion ale
@4man – kyk nou
276@bdb – Dis waar, ons mis vir Wynand Meisiekind kwaai….
Maar ons mis vir Vic en Bakkies.. vir Fourie du Preez en Morne… en dammit ons mis vir Habana
Hierdie 6 gee aan die Bulls ‘n hele ander dimensie…. plus Spies en ou Pakslae….
@Pietman – 282
I was brought up on Lion Ale Pieta. Eshowe’s Royal and Provincial Hotels stocked plenty of it.
@Irish Devil – I think all this cra p with PDV and this lobby group calling him to account, even if they have no power…effects the team. Unless they have targeted the Hamilton game for a win….they must get the head doctor there this week. The Aussies (once again) exposed the gap in the Boks strategy, so perhaps they need to change the game plan a bit against the kiwis…and DONT talk about it. Also the chopping and changing of the players is unsettling. My personal feeling when they saw that the kicking game wasnt going right, they should have put Ruan at 10 and then run at the Aussies and to hell with it….they had nothing to lose. But the must practise going thru phases this week and retain the ball and that will frustrate the kiwis into mistakes. Also a few key players must life their game….they have started believing the propaganda bout how they are unbeatable.
@superBul – Daarsy…dit het geland…dankie bru.
@Pietman – Lekker wees Ouboet…geniet die week. tjorts
@4man – 292, i thought they run too much without getting through. Maybe a few more up and unders, to see if they will drop the ball again like in the last test.
Man of the match in Bok game is the Aussie loose head.
Man of the match in the Bulls game is the WP loose head.
We sure have fallen behind, when it comes to scrumming.
Maybe it is time for coaches to be truthfull to themselves and approach the problem head on instead of pretending it does not exist.
@SA Barbarians –
Lion Ale was always in a bottle, never in a can.
It was a gentleman’s beer…
Maar soos ou Simon gese het, ‘Ouk, die baas Louis, hy es die baie slem, eers hy maak die kuk by die sak (Triomf), nou hy make die pes by die blek (Luyt Lager ipv Lion Ale)!’
Dis toe Louis Luyt begin bier maak het, wat ou Simon so gepraat het…
Ou Simon was reg.
@superBul – Ja with young Bryan running on to it….our antipodean brothers dont like being hit hard and we must never stop doing it to them.
@tight head – Maybe i must read your article again, i dont understand how the ref decides this team is the culprit?
Like with Blaauw and Werner today, both went down and both did not bind. Explain?
296 @tight head – vertel ons wat is die probleem met Bulle se skrums. Is dit ner Werner, of is daar meer ?
Ook, Brock en Wicus was voor vanjaar se CB nikswerd in die skrums nie. Wat het die verandering gebring ?
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