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
Final score
Wp 25 / 19
6 points margin
who’s the next game against?
@SA Barbarians – Geluk.
232 @K9-MonsterLeeu – dis waar, ou Werner is ‘n baie goeie seun, maar ek dink sy vaskoploopbaan lyk nie te goed nie.
@grootblousmile –
Bliksem!
Daardie laasste strafskop het ons beide ge-rob…ons het dit met 9 punte gehad, close bru….
Geluk aan die WP met die wen, dit was soos die engelsman sê “fair en square”. Bulletjies het goed gelyk in die begin, maar daardie skrums en al die strafskoppe het ons gesink.
@superBul –
Not to worry, darem 1 punt, dis belangrik.
@St.Petersburgbok – Sharks
Wicus Blaauw MOM
Geluk aan WP! Julle het die wen verdien!
well done wp , congrats , although i must admit in good afrikaans , die ref het die bulle genaai 😆
sorry bulls okes , 2nd half you guys also forgot to play after doing so well in the first half
247@Pietman – sien die bulle is darem voor op die log … die bonuspunt log !
@bdb –
Nee wat jong, soos ek gese het aan die begin, Joe Petersen, Juan de Jongh en Upington Mastertreads (Wickus) net te sterk op hierdie stadium.
Maar die Bulle het een punt uitgehaal, baie belangrik.
Lekker wedstryd gewees!
@K9-MonsterLeeu – 243
Thanks Tjom
Well, congrats WP….
Not too bad for the Bulls, I suppose… getting within 6 with 10 Bokke away… and denying WP a bonus point for tries, by miles !
@K9-MonsterLeeu –
Regtig?
Vanaand suip Upington se Duinevelders hulleself oor n mik 🙂
Sy pa het het Blaauw’s Transport daar, ek en die toppie, TonyM en Blhoo het saam gespeel vir die army.
now if my sharkies can beat the bulls next week , i think we home jerome , bulls is our last difficult away game
cheetahs and lions and leopards in durbs ,,,,,,, and bulls and kwas away
@grootblousmile – Well done with your superbru….always objective. But tough luck for your team. Personally I think the subbed the correct prop…I dont rate Engels at all (you might disagree)
@sharky_forever –
You Sharkies had better start pulling your socks up bru, if you want to want to win at Loftus.
No more lucks like in 1990 CC, with Tony Watson, Robert du Preez and Joel Stransky…..:-)
253@Pietman – joe peterson was my MOM. Baie veilig onder die hoë bal en sy skopskoen werk ook. Bulle se skrumprobleme duur voort. Ek wil so bietjie opkom vir Werner: ja, hy is nie die sterkste vaskop wat daar is nie, maar ek dink omdat hy ook nie ‘n sterk haker het wat hom ondersteuning gee van binne nie, sukkel hy nog meer. Hoe gouer die Bulle ‘n sterk haker/skrummer kry, hoe beter. Met hul sterbelaaide bokbulle wat terugkom, kan dit nog weggesteek word, maar sodra vic en bakkies en danie nie daar is nie, gaan hul baie sukkel (soos ons vandag gesien het).
Of hul moet vir Engels of Dean Greyling ‘n haker maak, maar hul sal moet plan maak.
Ek weet ek het dit al te veel gesê, maar ek sal maar aanhou tot Ludeke dit wil hoor: Kuun is ‘n gemiddelde haker, maar ‘n skitterende loosie. Hopelik sal Ludeke so groot wees (om soos Snorre met Brussow en Ruan), dit erken dat daar veranderinge moet kom. Hoop maar so.
At least I have a Full House on SuperBru this weekend for the Currie Cup….
@Pietman – Moenie dood koeie uit die sloot krap….ons het hulle baie gewen na dit ook. Die Sharks is altyd lus vir die Bulle. Maar ek soek hulle in die final, dan gaan ons at least a game kry as al die Bokke terug is, teen die Bulls.
@bdb –
Joe, Juan, Wickus…..ek dink jy is reg.
Wickus Blaauw is die man.
Waneer laas het jy n WP voorryman motm gesien wen op Nuweland sedert Hempies du Toit, Henning van Aswegen en Tommie Loubscher?
@Pietman – lol luck my ass 😆
actually sharks have a good record at loftus , but its always hard as hell game ,but from the weekend after sharks have 15 returning with a few injured also returning
only jpp i think wont be back within 2 weeks
@bdb – Ook n bietjie beter kapteinskap sal help, dink al die spelers praat te veel.
Pedrie Wannenburg’s time has come and gone… he can be put out to pasture now…
@4man –
Sammajoor, geweet jy gaan dit se!
Dis hoekom ons daai koei opgesit het, op die home page, aan die regterkant…..net vir jou 🙂
Sien jy?
@bdb –
Sjoe… Ek kan darem nie met jou saamstem oor Ruan en Heinrich nie. Ek kan wel vir jou se daar is baie middelmatige Springbokke.
@superBul – super stuur my aub jou epos adres…ek het na my huis adres verander en ek dink ek het joune verkeerd (bigpond kom altyd terug)
Stefan Watermeyer is a crash and bash centre… no sidestep or finesse…
Little Francois Hougaard is a star, whether on scrummie or on wing !
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