MONDAY, 11.05AM:
WESTERN Province are through to the final of the Bankfin Currie Cup after beat Gauteng Lions 38-18 at Newlands on Saturday after leading 20-12 at interval. Four tries by the Western Province with no reply form the Lions was the true reflection of the game.
Lions created many chances but failed to convert them into points. Joe Gillingham and later Thinus Delport made the initial cut but found themselves surrounded by WP players with no-one to pass to.
Province pressurised the Lions and the loss of lock Bruce Thorne with about 15 minutes remaining when he was red-carded by referee Andre Watson, nullified the Lions’ hope of a belated fight back. Lions rellied too much on goalkick specialist Johan le Roux, who scored five out of seven penalty shots.
WESTERN PROVINCE:
Tries by: Johan van Wyk, James Small, Bobby Skinstad and Cor Krige. Conversions and four penalties by Louis Koen.
GAUTENG LIONS:
Five penalties by Johan le Roux and one by Joe Gillingham.
Free State assistant coach Gysie Pienaar believes that their ability to convert chances into goals when it mattered was the key to their 40-22 Currie Cup semi-final victory over Natal at King’s Park on Saturday. Free State will now meet Western Province in the final.
“All 16 players used tonight did their province proud. We never lost our focus and scored the tries when we had to.” said Pienaar. He said Free State were tiring when Natal took charge later in the game. “But once we regained possession we took the ball to Natal and showed the desire to achieve the result.” He added.
Natal coach Ian McIntosh praised the Cheetahs for the brave perfomance they put up against his charges. He, however, praised his team for their second-half fightback. “Any side which comes through at King’s Park is a deserving finalist,” he added. “I was disappointed with our performance before halftime,” he said.
Scorers:
NATAL:
Tries by: Joost van der Westhuizen, Joubert, Appleford, Two conversions and a penalty by Henry Honiball.
FREE STATE:
Tries by Swanepoel, Van Wyk, AJ Venter, Bradenhorst, Van Rensburg, Erusmus. Conversions by De Beer.
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