Western Province achieved their goal of getting a bonus-point win from their trip to Port Elizabeth on Saturday, but they will need to improve dramatically if they hope to be Currie Cup contenders.
Scrumhalf Jano Vermaak scored the Streeptruie’s fourth try in the 58th minute and WP went on to secure a 36-6 win over Eastern Province at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, and end a two-match losing run after defeats to the Blue Bulls and Free State Cheetahs.
But with the EP Kings being very much a makeshift outfit themselves as they have lost a number of players over the last few months, WP’s win doesn’t say much about their ability to challenge for the title that they lost to the Golden Lions in last year’s final.
While there was certainly much greater intensity and purpose on attack in particular, WP were dragged down to the level of their struggling opponents as a number of opportunities were wasted on attack.
The Cape side started well enough as they looked to exploit space out wide against a narrowly-aligned Kings defence. The likes of Vermaak, flyhalf Brandon Thomson and inside centre Dan du Plessis were influential figures in that regard as they mixed up their play with long and short passes to put Leolin Zas and Cheslin Kolbe into space.
One such move saw WP score their opening try in the 12 th minute as Thomson flung the ball to flank Jurie van Vuuren, who showed good skill to find Du Plessis, who put Zas away down the left flank.
WP nearly had a second five-pointer in two minutes when Du Plessis and Zas combined and sent Huw Jones over, but referee Lesego Legoete cancelled the try after he called for a TMO referral and saw that Zas had a foot in touch.
But five minutes later Jones was rewarded when Kolbe joined the line beautifully from the back to feed Zas, who offloaded to Jones on the inside.
From that point onwards, though, John Dobson’s team lost their rhythm completely as they lost the ball in the tackle, lineouts were lost and wrong options were taken. Kolbe cut the line on several occasions, but his teammates were not on the same page as the twinkle-toed fullback and didn’t stay up in support of the Blitzbok star.
Even when EP lost two loose forwards – Christiaan de Bruin and Etienne Oosthuizen – to yellow cards at different stages of the first half, WP were unable to make full use of their advantage.
New right wing Werner Kok – on loan from the Blitzboks – showed tremendous footwork to beat a few EP defenders and score, but he was also denied by the TMO as the last pass from Sikhumbuzo Notshe was forward.
But Notshe made it count on the stroke of halftime when a massive WP scrum allowed the No 8 to pick up and dive over.
The first quarter of the second half was a mistake-fest as both teams battled to hold on to possession, while WP’s attack was affected by the loss of Du Plessis and Vermaak on the half-hour mark.
Vermaak returned later, though, and scored the fourth try after a slick move off the top of a lineout in the 58th minute.
The Kings defence fell apart after that, with a number of tackles slipped in the last quarter as they were resigned to their fate. That allowed Jones to grab a hat trick, but even though WP ended up scoring six tries to zero, Dobson will know that he will have to work hard on the continuity on attack ahead of next Saturday’s clash against the in-form Sharks at Newlands (5.10pm kickoff).
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POINTS-SCORERS
EP Kings – Penalties: Kobus Marais (2).
Western Province – Tries: Leolin Zas, Huw Jones (3), Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Jano Vermaak. Conversions: Brandon Thomson (3).