Currie Cup result: WP outlast Pumas in Athlone

Western Province earned a hard-fought 22-14 win against defending Currie Cup champions the Pumas in Athlone on Friday night.

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There was little between the teams in a physical encounter, but the home side did enough in the end to take a crucial win.

The visitors struck first as loosehead prop Cameron Dawson broke free to score, but those were to be their only points of the first half.

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Western Province largely controlled the territory from that point on and were on level terms after 20 minutes, when scrumhalf Godlen Masimla sniped over from a ruck after the forwards had taken it close to the tryline.

The home side hit the front when captain Jean-Luc du Plessis burst over and that gave them a 12-7 advantage at the half-time break.

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The Pumas scored first in the second half, with wing Andrew Kota going over in the corner and Tinus de Beer adding the touchline conversion to put them back in front.

The second half was a tense affair, but the home side eventually got their noses back in front with a penalty from Du Plessis and the win was sealed when lock Adre Smith powered his way for a late try.

Currie Cup: Team sheets and scorers

WP — Tries: Golden Masimla, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Adre Smith. Conversions: Du Plessis (2). Penalties: Du Plessis.
Pumas — Tries: Cameron Dawson, Andrew Kota. Conversions: Tinus de Beer (2).

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Western Province — 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Luke Burger, 13 Cornel Smit, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Tom Nel, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis (captain), 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Louw Nel, 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Chad Solomon, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Subs: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 Andre Goedhals, 20 Armand Maritz, 21 Thomas Bursey, 22 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 23 Duncan Saal.

Pumas — 15 Devon Williams, 14 Lundi Msenge, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Andrew Kota, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Chriswill September, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Anele Lungisa, 6 Andre Fouche, 5 Shane Kirkwood (captain), 4 Malembe Mpofu, 3 Njabulo Gumede, 2 Llewellyn Classen, 1 Cameron Dawson.
Subs: 16 PJ Jacobs, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Deward Martitz, 19 Jeandre Leonard, 20 Franna Kleinhans, 21 Giovan Snyman, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Etienne Taljaard.

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WP VS PUMAS FULL-TIME GRAPHIC