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From Newlands
It was tense and physical throughout, but also riddled with errors.
In the end, as has been seen throughout this campaign, Western Province lacked that final clinical performance in their Currie Cup semi-final loss to Sharks in Newlands on Saturday.
The Sharks were also far from their best, but Curwin Bosch’s boot and a try by JJ van der Mescht, the only five points of the game, were enough to give the visitors an advantage. 19-9 win.
SCORECARD | Currie Cup Semifinal – WP v Sharks
The Durbanites will now travel to Loftus where they will face the Bulls in the final of the tournament next weekend.
If this was Western Province’s last game at Newlands, as is expected to be the case with a move to Cape Town Stadium on the scorecards, then they will have felt like they disappointed themselves and their fans.
The intensity and passion were certainly there, but the consistency of quality was not, and when referee Marius van der Westhuizen sounded the final whistle, Province was only to blame.
The Sharks want to become a team that plays attractive rugby, running, but this was not that kind of game.
It was everything you would expect from a semi-final with the start, out of control and off the tee, key to the result, as well as the penalty count.
The Sharks were more composed in the big moments and Bosch finished with 14 points: three penalties, a drop goal and a conversion.
Much of the talk in preparation for the contest had focused on Bosch, and the Sharks pivot showed early on why that was the case.
He took three penalties in the first 12 minutes, all dead ahead but from more than 50 meters, reminding the hosts that he would hurt them on the scoreboard for any bad discipline.
That gave the Sharks a 9-0 lead and it looked like WP was shaken up as basic mistakes crept into their game.
The scrums, where Ali Vermaak replaced Steven Kitshoff with WP, were a gigantic battle, but as the first half progressed, it was Vermaak who began to overtake Thomas du Toit of the Sharks.
After watching those three Bosch penalties sail, WP recovered well and began to dominate from a territorial point of view.
Most of the game occurred within the Sharks half as the visitors began filtering penalties, with WP opting to chase a try rather than taking all three points.
In those moments, however, the hosts were disappointed with knock-ons of attack line-outs and mauls when they had to be clinicians.
It meant that even when the Sharks were giving away penalties, they were not conceding points and, as a result, they kept their lead.
WP captain Siya Kolisi left the field for a concussion test, but returned, while the Sharks were eventually hurt by their rising penalty count when Ox Nche received a yellow card.
Ultimately, WP opted to take the points and Tim Swiel dropped one head-on to make it 9-3.
Another scrum penalty for WP allowed Swiel to knock down a second just before the halftime whistle and despite playing most of the game in their own half, it was the Sharks who went into halftime with a 9-6 lead. .
A very light drizzle fell for most of the match as the wind swirled, and after the second half began it became even clearer that this was going to be tight.
Swiel made it 9-9 shortly after the restart as the arm wrestling escalated.
The Sharks then enjoyed an unusual trip to WP 22 and attempted to charge for the game’s first try, but when that momentum stopped Bosch reached into his pocket and pushed a drop goal to make it 12-9.
Still, it was WP who seemed more prone to breaking the deadlock in terms of attempts, as they provoked a couple of threatening attacks, but as was the case in the first half, it was the execution when it mattered most that disappointed them.
As penalties began to go the way of the Sharks more and more, one felt the momentum in the contest was shifting heading into the final 20 minutes.
When Ernst van Rhyn received a yellow card for WP, the resulting maul was almost catastrophic for them when Thembelani Bholi crashed.
The try was awarded and it appeared that the Sharks had landed the killing blow, but upon review, it was decided that Van der Mescht had illegally blocked Angelo Davids and the try was ruled out.
That gave Province a fighting chance, but they were still one man short when Bosch set up another attack lineout in the corner with 9 minutes left.
This time around, the Sharks weren’t wrong and after some heroic tackles on their own try line, the WP defense gave way as Van der Mescht stormed from close range.
Bosch knocked down the extras, the Sharks took a 19-9 lead and, with just 6 minutes left, the game was effectively over.
Scorers:
WP 9 (6)
Penalties: Tim Swiel (3)
Sharks 19 (9)
Test: JJ van der Mescht
Conversion: Curwin Bosch
Penalties: Bosch (3)
Drop goal: Bosch
