Veteran wing John Daniels scored the match-winning try as Boland shocked neighbours Western Province (WP) 15-10 in their Currie Cup match at the Boland Stadium on Saturday.
It was a remarkable reversal of fortunes from the previous week when WP beat the Lions 18-13 and Boland were annihilated 91-3 by the Cheetahs.
WP had led 10-3 at half-time and appeared to be cruising, but ultimately paid a heavy price for failing to convert countless opportunities into points and frequently conceding turnover possession in the wet conditions.
Flyhalf Isma-eel Dollie, who is on loan from WP, drew first blood for Boland with a cleanly struck penalty in the ninth minute. However, WP soon drew level as Dollie’s opposite number, Naas Olivier, split the posts just three minutes later.
WP were clearly enjoying the better of the exchanges and were especially dominant in the scrums. However, they were frequently undone by their inability to control the ball in the wet as well as poor decision-making, while Boland also did a fine job of frustrating them.
Referee Phillip Bosch, however, took exception to Boland’s poor discipline, and shortly before half-time flank Zolani Mofu and lock Randall Julies both found themselves in the sin bin.
WP failed to exploit this advantage and it was game on when Boland fullback Renfred Dazel pulled away from the defence to score in the left-hand corner. Dazel could not convert his own try, but suddenly WP knew they had a major fight on their hands.
It was one with which they simply could not cope and when they conceded turnover possession again in the 60th minute, it was all the invitation that Daniels needed as he ran in for a try that had the crowd on their feet.
Dollie’s conversion crucially put them five points up and WP had to score a converted try to win the game.
Boland, however, defended superbly as a unit, while WP continued to concede possession in contact and paid the price.
In fairness to WP, they were without injured captain Luke Watson and form flyhalf Peter Grant, but there really was no excuse for this.
Credit, though, to Boland, who did superbly to pick themselves up from the previous week’s hiding by the Cheetahs and played the conditions better than WP.
Although it was a good team effort by the home side, the halfback pairing of JP Joubert and Dollie deserve a mention for steering the game well. — Sapa