Home sides prevail in Currie Cup action

EW Viljoen celebrates a try with his WP teammates during Province's victorious Currie Cup clash against the Sharks on Saturday. Photo: Chris Ricco

EW Viljoen celebrates a try with his WP teammates during Province's victorious Currie Cup clash against the Sharks on Saturday. Photo: Chris Ricco

Published Sep 4, 2016

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Cape Town – It was a good weekend for the four hosts in the Currie Cup Premier Division with Boland Cavaliers, Vodacom Blue Bulls, Toyota Free State Cheetahs and DHL Western Province all emerging victorious in a thrilling round of rugby action.

The 34-27 win of the DHL WP over the Cell C Sharks at DHL Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday also ended the East Coast side’s unbeaten run, with only the Toyota Free State now unbeaten in the competition, presented by Nashua and Direct Axis.

Despite the defeat, the Sharks are still top of the log, but Free State, one point in arrears, has a game in hand.

In the Currie Cup First Division, Border continued their good form with a solid win over the Down Touch Griffons in East London, while the other front-runner in the competition, the Leopards, was the only side victorious away from home, beating the Hino Valke in Kempton Park.

Currie Cup Premier Division

A late call-up into the starting DHL Western Province team, EW Viljoen, scored a brace to help his team to a solid win over the Cell C Sharks, who dropped their first result in the competition. Viljoen was called into the DHL Newlands clash after Huw Jones was ruled before the start and scored two of the five tries by the home side.

Springbok Sevens flyer, Werner Kok, playing on the wing, scored his first in the competition. The visitors had the lead at the break, but could not offer enough on defence in the second half.

Earlier in the day, the Toyota Free State Cheetahs kept their unbeaten run intact in a high scoring match against the Eastern Province Kings in Bloemfontein. The PE side does have some defensive issues and conceded 33 tries already, but they do score some spectacular ones themselves. In all, 12 tries were scored in a very entertaining match.

The Vodacom Blue Bulls kept their clean sheet at Loftus Versfeld Friday evening, beating Gauteng rivals Xerox Golden Lions 31-17 in a match full of passion and drama. The home side had a good first half and although the visitors threatened in the second half after a great try by Kwagga Smith, secured the win with a late try.

The Boland Cavaliers outlasted the Steval Pumas in Wellington on Friday in a thrilling clash which saw the first red card of the competition.

The Steval Pumas centre Tyler Fisher was shown a red card for a dangerous elbow charge after 27 minutes and after that, the visitors were up against it. They trailed 13-5 at the break and despite two late tries, could not catch up to Boland, who scored their second win of the competition.

Currie Cup First Division

The Leopards and Border continued their good start in the First Division. Border won their third on the trot with a solid win over the Down Touch Griffons in East London, with Masixole Banda scoring 15 of their 41 points.

In Kempton Park, the Leopards backline proved to be just too slick for the Hino Valke, scoring five of the six tries by the visitors. Namibian international midfielder Johan Deysel was a handful, not only scoring a try but converted five tries as well for a personal haul of 15 points.

– ANA

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