DHL Western Province will host the Xerox Golden Lions in Cape Town in the ABSA Currie Cup final after the teams won their respective semifinals on Saturday to remain the last teams standing in the competition.

DHL Western Province defeated the Vodacom Blue Bulls 31-23 in a physical encounter in Cape Town, while the Xerox Golden Lions delivered a fine performance against the Cell C Sharks in Johannesburg to register a convincing 50-20 victory.

DHL Western Province were quick on their feet throughout the clash and supported this with good decision-making on attack and a solid defensive effort. In stark contrast, the Vodacom Blue Bulls made mistakes at crucial times and missed three penalties, which cost them.

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The home final for DHL Western Province will mark back-to-back home finals for the Cape side and their third successive final appearance in the competition.

The Xerox Golden Lions, meanwhile, secured their first ABSA Currie Cup final since 2011 and kept their unbeaten run at home this season intact as they produced an innovative attacking performance backed up by a solid forward display to topple the Cell C Sharks.

The team’s 50 points marked their second highest score in an ABSA Currie Cup semifinal and the fourth highest score by a winning team in a semifinal since the 1954 season.

Xerox Golden Lions (23) 50 / 20 (3) Cell C Sharks:

The Xerox Golden Lions’ forwards laid a solid foundation for the team to attack in their clash against the Cell C Sharks, and supported this by dominating territory and possession at crucial times, which handed them an edge.

The teams exchanged penalties early on, but the Xerox Golden Lions had the first significant say as wing Howard Mnisi scored a fantastic individual try after putting through a grubber and gathering it to hand the hosts an 8-3 lead.

The Cell C Sharks were dealt a blow minutes later as flank Ettienne Oosthuizen received yellow card for picking up a player in a tackle and failing to bring him to the ground safely.

The hosts opted for a scrum rather than a penalty following the offence, but the Cell C Sharks denied them from scoring a try despite a few attempts to cross the chalk.

Their determined efforts, however, paid off in the 37th min as flank Jaco Kriel received the ball out wide and out-sprinted the defence to score their second try of the match.

Kriel made another break minutes later and drew the defence before passing, which allowed scrumhalf Ross Cronje to cross the tryline on the stroke of half time. This pushed the team into an encouraging 23-3 lead at the break.

The Cell C Sharks came out firing in the second half and signalled their intentions early on, with centre Andre Esterhuizen passing the ball to Lwazi Mvovo who was in space, but he knocked the ball on, which denied them from adding to their score. Mvovo, however, scored the team’s first try in the 40th minute after finding space out wide and touching down to reduce the gap to 23-8.

The Xerox Golden Lions suffered a setback in the 56th minute as replacement flank Kwagga Smith received a yellow card for tackling a player in the air. This, however, did not stop them from making their presence felt as replacement hooker Armand van der Merwe finished off a fantastic team try in the 62nd minute to extend their lead.

The Sharks hit back with a try by captain and No 8 Lubabalo “Tera”Mtembu from a pick-and-go and another by SP Marais almost immediately after as he opted for a dummy pass and cruised to the tryline to take the score to 33-20 with nine minutes left on the clock.

Xerox Golden Lions flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff, however, stretched the match out of range for the Cell C Sharks with a penalty in the 73rd minute, which left the Cell C Sharks in a the challenging situation of having to score two converted tries and a penalty in the last six minutes.

Despite this, the Johannesburg side continued to fight until the final whistle and earned the rewards with Ruan Combrinck and Warren Whiteley scoring two more tries in the dying minutes to secure the morale-boosting 50-20 victory.

Scorers:

Xerox Golden Lions:

• Tries: Armand “Akker” van der Merwe (1), Howard Mnisi (1), Jaco Kriel (1), Ross Cronje (1), Ruan Combrinck (1), Warren Whiteley (1)
• Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (4)
• Penalties: Marnitz Boshoff (4)

Cell C Sharks:

• Tries: Lwazi Mvovo (1), Tera Mtembu (1), SP Marais (1)
• Conversion: Fred Zeilinga (1)
• Penalty: Lionel Cronje (1)

DHL Western Province (25) 31 / 23 (10) Vodacom Blue Bulls:

DHL Western Province delivered a solid first-half performance in their semifinal against the Vodacom Blue Bulls in which they dominated territory and possession, and they built on this with a fine second half showing to secure their home final. Flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis was particularly instrumental in the clash as he contributed 16 points with the boot to steer the team to victory.

Catrakilis kicked an early penalty to hand the side a 3-0 lead, and with confidence and form favouring the hosts, the flood gates opened soon after.

Fullback Cheslin Kolbe scored their first try of the match in the 11th minute from 80m out following a great break by speedster Seabelo Senatla, who found space out wide and sprinted up-field. This handed the home team an 8-0 lead.

Vodacom Blue Bulls flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter reduced the deficit to 8-3 with a penalty shortly before the second quarter. But this was cancelled out by Catrakilis’ second penalty minutes later.

Kolbe scored the team’s second try in the 27th minute thanks to a clever grubber by Catrakilis, which was gathered by wing Kobus van Wyk, who passed to Kolbe in space.

They stretched their lead to 25-3 shortly before half time as scrumhalf Nic Groom opted for a quick tap after being awarded a penalty and dived over the line for their third try.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls, however, ensured that they remained in the game with a morale-boosting try on the stroke of halftime after Springbok centre Handre Pollard powered his way up-field and set up a ruck, from which prop Dean Greyling received the ball at pace and touched down to reduce the deficit to 25-10.

They added to this immediately after the break with two penalties by Potgieter after an enterprising attacking spell, which allowed them to close in on the home team. Catrakilis, however, added to their score with a penalty in the 49th minute to maintain his team’s cushion on the scoreboard.

This was followed by a determined run of play by both teams, although neither side was able to score points.

Catrakilis, however, kicked a smart drop goal in the 74th minute to push the match out of range for the Vodacom Blue Bulls.

Despite this the visitors refused to give up and scored their second try of the match in the last minute, but this was not enough to overturn the result.

Scorers:

DHL Western Province:

• Tries: Cheslin Kolbe (2), Nic Groom (1)
• Conversions: Demetri Catrakilis (2)
• Penalties: Demetri Catrakilis (3)
• Drop Goal: Demetri Catrakilis (1)

Vodacom Blue Bulls:

• Tries: Callie Visagie (1), Dean Greyling (1)
• Conversions: Handré Pollard (1), Jacques-Louis Potgieter (1)
• Penalties: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (3)