Province run riot against Lions
Western Province ran riot at City Park in Crawford on Saturday as they thrashed the Golden Lions 58-34 (half-time 27-20) in an entertaining Vodacom Cup quarterfinal.
Fullback Kurt Coleman scored a delightful hat-trick of tries as WP turned on the charm after the interval.
The Lions were nevertheless competitive in the first half. They found themselves down 0-10 quite quickly, but pounced on a handling error by WP and hooker Francois du Toit scored a try to get them back into it.
In fact, the visitors even led midway through the first half, with flyhalf Guy Cronjé converting winger JP Esterhuizen’s try to make it 17-15.
But WP soon hit back through a well-worked try for flanker Tyrone Holmes after fullback Kurt Coleman had broken the line. Flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis converted and WP were back in the lead.
It was one they built on with another impressive try shortly before half-time as flanker Rohan Kitshoff finished.
Province took a cavalier approach to the game in spite of the stakes being a place in the semifinals.
They charmed the crowd in the second half with Coleman, in particular, impressive.
Coleman was rather ironically playing out of position as he is usually a flyhalf. However, WP have a shortage of fullbacks and need to accommodate Catrakilis’s impressive boot.
While Catrakilis was not on song with the boot on Saturday, WP’s nine tries meant he was hardly required to be.
The home side’s efforts up front should also be lauded. They used the driving maul particularly well and also had a dominant scrum.
DHL Western Province - Tries: Hilton Lobberts, Quinn Roux, Tyrone Holmes, Rohan Kitshoff (2), Nic Fenton-Wells, Kurt Coleman (3). Conversions: Demitri Catrakilis (5). Penalty: Catrakilis.
Golden Lions - Tries: Francois du Toit, JR Esterhuizen, Robert de Bruyn, Garth April. Conversions: Guy Cronjé (4). Penalties: Cronjé (2).
