Province wake up just in time
Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:54
Western Province produced a stirring fightback at the death of their Currie Cup clash against the Blue Bulls to record a 26-17 win over their traditional rivals at Newlands on Saturday.
It seemed as if the most there would be to talk about in this match was the time spent waiting for TMO decisions - until the last six minutes, that is. Suddenly the match burst into life that brought the blue and white flags out at cold Newlands and changed the cry of PRROOOOVI NCE from a dirge to a cry of triumph.
Western Province showed character but it was not without help from the visiting Blue Bulls.
The Blue Bulls had led 14-3 at the break but in the second half Willem de Waal was able to kick three penalties to take the score to 17-12 as the Blue Bulls infringed again and again - 13 times to 5 in the match as a while, 8-2 in the second half. This infringing got serious. Hilton Lobberts was not long on the field when he was penalised for a late tackle which made the score 17-9. Not long afterwards he was penalised and sent to the sin bin for a gross high tackle on Wylie Human. Then Wynand Olivier was penalised for tripping Gcobani Bobo. The Blue Bulls were taking aim before shooting themselves in the foot.
Then suddenly Western Province started running in their own half and went from right to the far left when Gio Aplon took an inside pass from Wylie Human and sped away. Akona Ndungane came haring across and tried an ankletap which caused Aplon to stumble but he gained his balance and then Marius Delport threatened, grabbing the smaller man buy the back of his jersey to sling him to ground but the smaller man had strength enough to ground the ball,. There was a long wait while the referee asked the TMO to check whether or not there had been a forward pass from Tonderai Chavhanga to Human. There had not been. The try was given.
That tied the scores at 17-all with the conversion to come - from about 13 metres in from touch on left-footer Willem de Waal's left. He kicks and turned away in satisfaction. 17-9 after 74 minutes.
There was lots of joy in the crowd of 24 499. Not all were Western Province supporters for there were still horns around and uncouth voices to make loud booing sounds every time De Waal kicked at goal.
An how well he kicked, missing just one - a devilishly long kick from over 40 metres out and a niggardly six metres in from touch. That was when the score was 17-12.
Late though they left it, it was a match that Western Province deserved to win though at one stage it looked as if they would never, never score a try, try though they did. But clearly it is a team with spirit and confidence.
Even after they had gone into a two-point lead with just over five minutes to play, they did not go on the defensive. There was no plodding maul or plodding pick-'n-drive to wear the clock down. They went right into their centres and then back on the left where Human picked a nasty pass up off his toes. Back the ball came to Bobo who threw a dummy and then bashed at the line with AJ Venter to help him over. De Waal converted that one, too, from even further out. And that meant that the Blue Bulls who had led for 48 minutes of the game, went quitely back to Pretoria without even a bonus point.
That they had led was party fortuitous - fortuitous, rather than lucky because it was of their own doing.
When Wilhelm Steenkamp went in the side, De Waal opened the scoring after 12 minutes. Apart from an initial burst of Blue Bulls energy Western Province were doing the playing and deserved at least that much. They were able to get the ball wide to Human and Chavhanga on the wings though the effort was largely wasted on Chavhanga who did his own tackling by slipping each time - to reappear after half-time in garish boots of red and white. He did not slip in the second half.
That said the Blue Bulls had the best chance to score when Olivier slipped a grubber past Aplon but Ndungane knocked on with the line beckoning.
There was the first of four breaks while the TMO was consulted in this half. This first one was for possible foul play. It may be all right on TV where chatter goes on and the watchers are informed but in the ground it is a grim affair as the crowd sit uninformed in the evening cold, wondering what on earth the hold-up is about. It happened four times in the match, adding ten minutes to the duration of the match. In this first case Venter was penalised. In the second case there was a line-out, in the third Olivier was penalised and in the fourth it was eventually decided that there had not been a forward pass.
The Blue Bulls scored the first try. The scrum wheeled left and gave JP Joubert lots of time to chip down the right. The bounce was awkward as zealous Ndungane chased it. Eventually it went into touch off Venter's body. About 15m from the Western Province line, the Blue Bulls threw deep into the line-out and suddenly Joubert was scampering around the tail, inside groping Human and on an unimpeded run for a neat dive over the line. Steyn converted, 7-3 after 26 minutes.
That try was against the run of play. The next, too, had its clever luck. De Waal fired a long pass top his left. Western Province tried their best with skip passes all afternoon to no avail at all. This skip pass was gratefully received by Pedrie Wannenburg who pumped those massive legs some 55 metres down the field as Schalk Brits chased. 14-3 after 32 minutes.
The Blue Bulls actually had a brief flirtation with playing the ball wide - wide left from wide right and then wide right. The flirtation did not lead to anything much.
De Waal made the score 14-6 after 46 minutes but almost immediately the Blue Bulls attacked and Human had a clearing kick partially charged by Joubert to give the Blue Bulls a chance to attack and Steyn the chance to drop a goal. 17-6.
Then De Waal kicked two penalty goals and with 13 minutes to play the Blue Bulls led 17-12 and were right out of the game as the Western Province came at them in waves till Lobberts and, to a much lesser extent, Olivier contrived to cause self-destruction.
Man of the Match: The Blue Bulls halves were excellent for most of the match - Morné Steyn and JP Joubert. It was a good time for Western Province when Joubert was substituted as it was for Western Province when they sent Paul Delport on. And Pedrie Wannenburg battled manfully. On the Western Province side there was a great performance by Schalk Brits whose energy matches that of Schalk Burger but he spoil things a bit at line-out time for Western Province lost five of their own throws. Willem de Waal of the metronomic boot was also outstanding but our Man of the Match is electric Gio Aplon who attacked with zest on every opportunity, causing a frisson of excitement each time.
Moment of the Match: Gio Aplon's try. When he came back he raised his eyes to heaven in thanks giving and eventually the TMO agreed and decreed that the try had been scored.
Villain of the match: Hilton Lobberts - not for the first time.
The scorers:
For Western Province:
Tries: Aplon, Bobo
Cons: De Waal 2
Pens: De Waal 4
For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Joubert, Wannenburg
Cons: Steyn 2
DG: Steyn
Yellow card: Hilton Lobberts (Blue Bulls, 68 - dangerous play, high tackle)
Teams:
Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Wylie Human, 13 Dylan Des Fountain, 12 Gcobani Bobo, 11 Tonderai Chavhanga, 10 Willem De Waal, 9 Alastair Siegelaar, 8 AJ Venter, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Myburgh, 5 Ross Skeate
(captain), 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Wicus Blaauw, 18 Francois Van Der Merwe, 19 Justin Melck, 20 Paul Delport, 21 Isma-eel Dollie, 22 Morgan Newman.
Blue Bulls: 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Marius Delport, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 John Mametsa, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 JP Joubert, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Francois van Schouwenburg, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün (captain), 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Rayno Gerber, 18 Fudge Mabeta, 19 Hilton Lobberts, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Okkie Kruger.
Referee: Phillip Bosch
Touch judges: François Veldsman, Marc van Zyl
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
