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Chris Smith pulled off a late conversion on the touchline to give the Vodacom Bulls a 22-20 victory over Western Province in Newlands on Saturday. DYLAN JACK reports.
With the win, the Bulls are three points clear at the top of the Currie Cup table, following the Sharks’ bonus point win over the Pumas on Friday night.
However, the nature of their victory will be even more inspiring for Jake White’s team after they were down to 14 men midway through the second half. White and his coaching staff will be delighted that their team has continued to fight, putting Western Province under enormous pressure from the breakdown.
Additionally, the Bulls were able to bid Newlands farewell on a positive note in what could be their last game at the stadium. It was something White said he would emphasize to his players in preparation for this weekend’s game and it was clearly shown that the Bulls never seemed to go down without a fight.
On the other hand, for Province, this is a loss that could be difficult to overcome. The home team had much better possession and territory in the first half, but they honestly didn’t make their chances count. There was a clear lack of leading edge in midfield, before Ruhan Nel was taken off the bench.
The Bulls couldn’t have asked for a better start when Cornal Hendricks ripped through the province’s defense and threw a fly ball to set Kurt-Lee Arendse ready for the youngster’s first of two attempts.
From there, it was pretty much the entire western province that covered the Bulls in their own half. However, the Cape side found it difficult to break through a tenacious Bulls defense and eventually narrowly returned to attack around the rucks, ultimately resulting in Juarno Augustus scoring to make it 10-5 at halftime when Damian Willemse added a penalty and conversion.
The Bulls came in with renewed vigor in the second half and began to dominate the breakout. It was then that the game took a turning point when TMO Rasta Rasivhenge spotted a dangerous tackle from Jacques van Rooyen on Warrick Gelant. After a long discussion, referee AJ Jacobs decided to brandish Van Rooyen with a red card.
The game lit up as Province appeared to have landed a decisive blow as Willemse brushed the ball through the defense to Angelo Davids to rally and outmaneuver the covering defense to score.
However, showing sheer resolve, the Bulls refused to give up and leveled the score at 15-15 when He used an overlap to push Arendse away from her brace. Minutes later, Province landed another punch as they used their numbers, with Nel stepping past their tackler before unloading to put flank Ernst van Rhyn in the corner.
To their credit, the Bulls even then continued to fight and put Province under enormous pressure in the collapse, earning penalty after penalty. Finally, after a long stint in Province 22, Smith made the big play while scanning the defense, before laying down a wonderfully weighted crossfield chip to allow Marco Jansen van Vuren to score. Smith then stood his ground to place the winning touchline conversion.
Western Province – Attempts: Juarno Augustus, Angelo Davids, Ernst van Rhyn. Conversion: Damian Willemse. Penalty: Willemse.
Bulls – Attempts: Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Marco Jansen van Vuren. Conversions: Chris Smith (2). Penalty: Smith.
Western Province – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Subs: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Ruhan Nel.
Bulls – 15 David Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Duane Vermeulen (c), 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje , 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Subs: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Sintu Manjezi, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Clinton Swart, 23 Marco Jansen van Vuren.
Photo: Frikkie Kapp / Gallo Images / Getty Images
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