WP hold off Free State
Both teams scored four tries in the match, which was played at the CUT Stadium. It's WP's second win of the season after they beat the Blue Bulls in their first game of the season two weeks ago.
In Friday's other matches, Boland suffered their first defeat of the season when they went down 10-12 to the Pumas in Nelspruit, while the Leopards got their first win of the season when they beat the Falcons 26-24 in Potchefstroom.
Free State 31-36 Western Province
Hooker Joseph Dweba got the games first points in the fourth minute when he crossed for the game's first try.
WP took some time to get their first points, but when they did they took the lead in the game when lock Jurie van Vuuren went over for a try, with Scott van Breda converting.
However, it was the hosts who were leading at half-time after wing Mosolwa Mafuma crossed for the first of his two tries. At the break it was 10-7 to Free State.
WP started the second-half the brighter of the two teams with Daniel du Plessis scoring two tries and scrumhalf Justin Phillips bagging another all in ten minutes to give the visitors a commanding lead.
Free State did score a try in the 55th minute through JP Smith. However, that was before Luke Stringer got WP's bonus-point try to push the visitors' lead further out.
The home side finished the stronger of the two teams with Tiaan Liebenberg and Mafuma scoring tries, but it was not enough in the end.
The scorers:
For Free State:
Tries: Mafuma 2, Dweba, Smith, Liebenberg
Cons: Sias Ebersohn 3
For WP:
Tries: Du Plessis 2, Van Vuuren, Philips, Stringer
Cons: Scott van Breda 4
Pen: Hermanus
Teams:
Free State XV: 15 Reinhardt Erwee, 14 Mosolwa Mafuma, 13 Carel-Jan Coetzee, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Maphutha Dolo, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 JP Smith, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Tienie Burger, 6 Ntokozo Vidima, 5 Reniel Hugo (captain), 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Gunther Janse van Vuuren, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 BG Uys.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Chase Morison, 19 Willie Britz, 20 Refuoe Rampeta, 21 Renier Botha, 22 Jean-Pierre Coetzee.
Western Province: 15 Grant Hermanus, 14 Khanyo Ngcukana, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Daniel du Plessis, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Scott van Breda, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Tertius Daniller, 7 Jacques Vermeulen, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 Chris van Zyl (captain), 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 JP Smith, 2 Chad Solomon, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Cullen Collopy, 17 Kyle Whyte, 18 Eduard Zandbergh, 19 Eital Bredenkamp, 20 Justin Phillips, 21 JP Lewis, 22 EW Viljoen.
Pumas 12-10 Boland
The home side looked comfortable in the opening minutes after they led 6-0 through two penalties by Justin van Staden.
Boland then took the lead midway in the first half when Nico Scheepers went over for try. He also converted his own score.
Both Scheepers and Van Staden added another three points to their team's tallies via penalties before half-time, with Boland leading by a single point.
The Pumas were the only team to score in the second half via another Scheepers penalty and that was enough for the win for the home side.
The scorers:
For Pumas:
Pens: Van Staden 4
For Boland:
Try: Scheepers
Con: Scheepers
Pen: Scheepers
Teams:
Pumas: 15 Heinrich Steyl, 14 Bernado Botha, 13 Hoffman Maritz, 12 Wilmaure Louw, 11 Marcello Sampson, 10 Justin van Staden, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Carel Greeff, 7 Lambert Groenewald, 6 Nardus van der Walt, 5 Hugo Kloppers (captain), 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Marne Coetzee, 2 Frankie Herne, 1 Simon Westraadt.
Replacements: 16 Francois Du Toit, 17 DJ Terblanche, 18 Jannie Stander, 19 Marnus Schoeman, 20 Emile Temperman, 21 Deon Helber, 22 Tyler Fisher.
Boland: 15 Nico Scheepers, 14 Sergio Torrens, 13 Ryan Nell (captain), 12 Christopher Bosch, 11 Danwel Demas, 10 Theuns Kotze, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Zandre Jordaan, 7 Shaun McDonald, 6 Shaun Adendorff, 5 Ockert van Zyl, 5 Ockert van Zyl, 4 Hanno Kitshoff, 3 Basil Short, 2 Chadley Wenn, 1 SP Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Francois Esterhuyzen, 17 Francois Hanekom, 18 Kenan Cronje, 19 Wayne Wilschut, 20 Gerhard Jordaan, 21 Adriaan Carelse, 22 Edwin Sass.
Leopards 26-24 Falcons
The Falcons outscored the home side three tries to two, however, Rhyno Smith's boot proved to be the difference at the end of the day.
The fullback scored 21 points, which included one of his team's two tries.
The Falcons had an early lead when Kyle Hendricks broke through the home side's defence for the first try of the game.
Smith then slotted the first of his four penalties before lock Walt Steenkamp scored the Leopards' first try of the game with Smith converting as well.
Smith extended his team's lead a few minutess later with another penalty before Hendricks scored his second try of the game just before half-time to give his team the lead.
The Falcons went further in front early in the second half when scrumhalf Sinovuyo Nyoka scored his team's third try with Karlo Aspeling converting
Smith then slotted a penalty before scoring a converted try to put the Leopards back in front.
Aspeling regained the lead for the visitors with just under 10 minutes left in the game – however it was Smith who would have the final say in the game when he slotted a late penalty to win the game for his team.
The scorers:
For Leopards:
Tries: Steenkamp, Smith
Cons: Smith 2
Pens: Smith 4
For Falcons:
Tries: Hendricks 2, Nyoka
Cons: Aspeling 3
Pen: Aspeling
Teams:
Leopards: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Lucian Cupido, 13 Bradley Moolman, 12 Adrian Vermeulen, 11 Dean Stokes, 10 Barend Janse van Rensburg, 9 Malherbe Swart, 8 Jeandre Rudolph (captain), 7 Loftus Morrison, 6 Jaco Jordaan, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 Sthembiso Mhlongo, 3 Nhlanhla Ngcamu, 2 Wilmar Arnoldi, 1 Mashudu Mafela.
Replacements: 16 Dane van der Westhuyzen, 17 Roan Grobbelaar, 18 Ruan Venter, 19 Molotsi Bouwer, 20 Chriswill September, 21 Gene Willemse, 22 Wesley Cupido.
Falcons: 15 Damian Engledoe, 14 Kyle Hendricks, 13 Andries Truter, 12 Grant Janke, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Karlo Aspeling, 9 Sinovuyo Nyoka, 8 Thabo Mamojele, 7 Ernst Ladendorf, 6 JP Mostert (captain), 5 Isak Deetlefs, 4 Shane Kirkwood, 3 Andries Schutte, 2 Dean Muir, 1 Henri Boshoff.
Replacements: 16 Dwight Pansegrouw, 17 Barend Steyn, 18 Jacques Alberts, 19 Reg Muller, 20 Johan Pretorius, 21 Andrew van Wyk, 22 Christo Coetzee.
