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Western Province brought the Lions' unbeaten run in the Currie Cup to an end thanks to a hard-fought 28-26 win at Newlands on Friday.

Western Province brought the Lions' unbeaten run in this season's Currie Cup to an end thanks to a hard-fought 28-26 win at Newlands on Friday.

Trailing by eight points at half-time (9-17), the men in blue and white hoops came out firing in the second half which saw fly-half Demetri Catrakilis put in a match-winning performance with the boot.

The Western Province rookie didn't miss a kick at goal all night, nailing five penalties, a conversion as well as a drop goal to steer his team to an important victory in Cape Town.

The well-earned win nearly ended on a sour note for WP fans after the final hooter had sounded, but the home crowd breathed a sigh of relief as Lions pivot Elton Jantjies' last-gasp penalty attempt fell short.

Western Province drew first blood as early as the fourth minute after Catralkallis converted his team's first penalty after the Lions' were deemed offsides.

Catralkallis's reliable boot added another three points a few minutes for a six-point lead, but the Lions struck back with the opening try of the match after centre Alwyn Hollenbach pounced on a Western province mix-up and dotted down against the run of play.

The visitors struck again almost immediately after Lionel Mapoe intercepted a Province pass and ran 80m to score a length-of-the-field try that nearly ended in the winger diving over the deadball line in celebration.

The second half was where Province showed their class and changed the tempo of their game as Springboks Gio Aplan and Juan de Jongh were introduced to start at the expense of Danie Poolamn and Conrad Jantjes respectively.

First Johann Sadie scored in the right-hand corner after a brilliant counter-attack from the hosts. A successful Catralkallis conversion from the touchline saw Western Province one point adrift at 20-19.

The scoreline then see-sawed as both fly-halves gave a spectacular display of kicking, which included a drop goal each.

The duel however had to go the way of man-of-the-match Catrakilis as he successfully slotted his most difficult kick of the evening through the uprights with five minutes remaining on the clock to steal the lead once more.

Province then gave away a penalty after the full-time hooter sounded for a deliberate knock down after the Lions turned over possession and threw the ball wide.

Jantjies had no choice but to opt for a final shot at goal from over 50m out, but his attempt fell way short and Province celebrated their victory by Aplon kicking the ball into the grandstands.

The scorers:

For Western Province:
Try: Sadie
Con: Catrakilis
Pens: Catrakilis 5
Drop: Catrakilis

For Lions:
Tries: Hollenbach, Mapoe
Cons: Jantjies 2
Pens: Jantjies 3
Drop: Jantjies

b>Western Province: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 JJ Engelbrecht, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nick Koster, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie (c), 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Quinn Roux, 19 Nick Fenton-Wells, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Gio Aplon.

Golden Lions: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach, 11 Michael Killian, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Joshua Strauss (c), 7 Derick Minnie, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Wikus van Heerden, 3 Patric Cilliers, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse, 18 Michael Rhodes, 19 Warren Whiteley, 20 Rudy Paige, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Jannie Boshoff.

Referee: Marius Jonker