Western Province’s are out of contention for a Currie Cup playoffs berth, despite a brave second-half fightback in their 31-23 defeat to the Sharks in Cape Town on Saturday.
Forced into late backline changes ahead of Saturday’s game, with rookies Kyle Smith and Gino Cupido called upon to start in midfield after centre Joshua Boulle fell ill and fullback JC Mars got injured during Friday’s captain’s run with Luke Burger – originally picked to pair up in midfield alongside Boulle – moving to 15 for the Sharks clash.
And the late disruptions worked in the Sharks’ favour as the visitors took a 21-3 lead after 33 minutes through converted tries by Tino Masevere, Jurenzo Julius and Nick Hatton, after WP flyhalf Jurie Mathee opened the scoring with a penalty after four minutes.
With the Durbanites finding it easy to break the Province defence to score three early five-pointers, it seemed like another huge pak slae was waiting for Province.
But No.12 Smith’s intercept try three minutes before the half-time break would ignited a fightback amongst Province’s inexperienced team and would be first to score after the restart with Mathee converting two penalties to cut their deficit to five points.
Sharks winger Eduan Keyter then scored the visitor’s fourth converted try for a 28-16 lead in the final quarter of the game.
WP prop Vernon Matongo scored the Cape side’s second five-pointer with the final 10 minutes beckoning to set up a tight finish as Mathee converted to draw the home side back within five points.
But veteran Sharks 10 Lionel Cronje would douse the home side’s fiery finish with a drop-goal three minutes from time.
The win sees the Sharks move to third place on the Currie Cup log, while Province stays sixth ahead of this week’s game against the fifth-placed Pumas in Stellenbosch.
WEEKEND’S OTHER CURRIE CUP RESULTS
Round 8 | Results
Vodacom Bulls 47 - Suzuki Griquas 24
DHL Western Province 23 - Hollywoodbets Sharks XV 31
Toyota Cheetahs 21 - Fidelity ADT Lions 38
NovaVit Griffons 26 - Airlink Pumas 45
#CarlingCurrieCup #WhereChampionsRise
WP - Tries: Kyle Smith and Vernon Matongo; Conversions: Jurie Matthee 2; Penalties: Jurie Matthee 3
Sharks - Tries: Tino Masevere, Jurenzo Julius, Nick Hatton and Eduan Keyter; Conversions: Lionel Cronje 4; Drop-goal: Lionel Cronje.