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
Time for yellow ffs!!!~!!!!
@Treehugger – Hello you ok?
@superBul –
Jy is reg ou superbul, Pedri gaan kuk optel en die Bulle die game kos hier….
@4man –
Don’t tell me you picked WP!
@4man – 🙂 Hi
@Pietman – No…Bulls by one 🙂
@carol – Fine and you. Hubby feeding horses,dogs cats i did the monkeys and bushbuck earlier
Farkin hell, how did Chavanga survive that?
@carol – Hi yourself Cotswold cutie….have you finished reaping? Did you exercise the horses today? Its as cold as a rugby coaches heart here today, but at least the sun is out now!!!
Should have been a penalty and a yellow – poor reffing
Newman off, looks seriously injured.
Take Newman off pleeeeAse
@Treehugger – Monkeys!! 😯
WP held up over the line.
Geez close WP!!
SAB jy pleit so vir n gele julle is nou nou net 14, chierinkies braai.
@SA Barbarians – he refuses to pass a ball.
@SA Barbarians – Taai game die, maar lekka!
‘Morgie’ is off, sorry SanLangkop, your boy is a goner.
No WP has a chance….
4man- if you go down into Hillbilly territory try and get your hands [well tastebuds] on Memmingen Dunkelweiss. Best beer ever.
@4man – 99 Just opened your mail, but looks like you found the answer!! No nags, too much on today!
Reaping continues! Yawwwnnnn
Kom Bulls…. defense !!!!!!!!!!
@superBul – 106
Hallou Super
Ek dink regtig ‘n gele sou onder ‘n ervare ref al gegee gewees het
Newlands looks full today….
@carol – am a feeding station for animalrights africa, major deforestation around me and properties with electric fenceing and game fence on my boundry to the game farm so tons of animals on my place but have beeen with animalrightsafrica for years
It must almost time for a yellow card, Bulls giving away too many penalties.
@Pietman – 108
Ja, 50-50 op die stadium
Bulls baie beter as op Loftus
@SA Barbarians – Your team under presure!! 😉
Mooi Bulle, net 3 punte afgestaan.
Lemoenetyd
Bulls 16 / 12
Okaaay!
Orange juice and vodka time…
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