Classy Province destroy Lions
Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:52
Western Province provided the Newlands faithful with plenty to shout about, destroying a gallant but ineffective Lions team 32-0 with a controlled and classy performance.
Clearly Western Province want to win and a bonus point is what it says - just a bonus. They won all right and by a big score. The Golden Lions who played with a resolution that the Lions had not shown in the Super 14 got nought but they could have scored points had they not tried for tries instead. But then Western Province also eschewed penalties in a quest for tries.
Certainly the Golden Lions deserved more than nought, especially through their early efforts, but they experienced what others have - the fierce intent of Western Province to keep opponents at bay. Pretty well the most exciting aspect of the match was the Western Province tackling.
It was a match that had its moments and was from the start willing to be expansive but it failed - perhaps because of the messy scrummaging. There were 15 scrums in the match and 15 collapses. That does not make for entertaining watching nor does it provide a solid base for back to work off. There were also 26 penalties, split 16-10 in favour of Western Province, which may have had a dampening effect on willingness. To make it worse 17 of those penalties were at the tackle, which destroyed much of the continuity.
Yet again it was Willem de Waal who scored the points - 17 of them with an unerring boot. Western Province scored three tries and were within centimetres of getting their fourth after the final siren had sounded.
De Waal started the scoring, against the run of play. The Golden Lions dominated the first part of the match and Western Province scored the points. Later Western Province dominated and did not score. Strange.
The first Western Province try came during a period of Golden Lions domination. A penalty produced a five-metre line-out but the Golden Lions repulsed the Western Province effort to maul but the home side came free bashed and Pieter Louw flashed over. 10-0. De Waal then kicked three penalty goals to take the score to 19-0 at half-time.
In this period Western Province twice opted for scrums for penalties under the Golden Lions posts.
David Bulbring was a long way offside at a line-out and De Waal made it 22-0.
Then from a scrum centre Tim Whitehead cut clean through from the left. The ball went wide to the right and Conrad Jantjes, who had a splendid game as he comes back from 14 months off through injury, scored. 27-0 after 52 minutes.
Livewire Jano Vermaak was close when he tapped a penalty.
A penalty gave Western Province a five-metre line-out. The Golden Lions drove back the maul but Western Province got it going again and shot over the line for a try credited to Pieter Myburgh.
The siren went and Western Province went in desperate search for a bonus-point try. Their effort ended when Fabien Juries was tackled out a few centimetres from the left cornerpost.
Together on the stand were three tall men, all of them Springboks - Hennie Bekker (2m), Niel Hugo (2,04) and Gert Smal (1,98m) who is on leave from Irish duty. They are all in fine fettle.
Man of the Match; Conrad Jantjes, leap to catch the high ball, looking for every opportunity to run was impressive, so was Jano Vermaak of the Golden Lions but our choice is that energetic, fearless flank Pieter Louw. If there was tackling to do, he did it efficiently. If there was a chance to win a turnover, he was there. He took high kicks, he ran with the ball - his our Man of the Match.
Scorers:
For Western Province:
Tries: Louw, Jantjes, Myburgh
Cons: De Waal
Pens: De Waal
5
Teams:
Western Province: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Fabian Juries, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Frikkie Welsh, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Rynardt Elstadt, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Anton van Zyl (captain), 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 JD Moller, 18 JC Kritzinger, 19 Martin Muller, 20 Pieter Myburgh, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Lionel Cronjé.
Lions: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Deon van Rensburg 13 Marius Delport, 12 Waylon Murray, 11 Michael Killian, 10 Herkie Kruger, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Franco van der Merwe (captain), 6 Derick Minnie, 5 David Bulbring, 4 George Earl, 3 Ross
Geldenhuys, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 JC van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Kevin Buys, 18 Trevor Hall, 19 Wikus van Heerden, 20 Chris Jonck, 21 Elton Jantjies, 22 Pieter Engelbrecht.
Date: Saturday, July 17
Venue: Newlands
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant referees: Ben Crouse, Marc van Zyl
TMO: Johann Meuwesen
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