Currie Cup: Western Province crushed by Blue Bulls

Planet Rugby

The Pumas, Sharks and Blue Bulls were the three winners on day two of the Currie Cup on Wednesday, with the Blue Bulls thrashing Western Province in the highlight game.

Lions 9-50 Pumas

The result is perhaps misleading to casual observers; the bulk of the Lions team is competing in the United Rugby Championship and the Currie Cup squad is largely youth players and reserves drafted in.

But the lack of time together as a team showed as several chances went begging, not least a number of line-out misfires in the red zone, while the Pumas suffered no such problem.

First-half tries from Devon Williams, Daniel Maartens, and Corne Fourie had the Pumas 24-6 up at the break, with Tinus de Beer converting all three and adding a penalty. Vaughen Isaacs replied with two penalties for the Lions.

Isaacs added three more, but the rest of the game belonged to the Pumas, who became a little ragged themselves in the final quarter, but tries from De Beer, Simon Raw, Michael Claassens and Brandon Valentyn ultimately saw them comfortably home.

Sharks 24-23 Griquas

The Sharks also had their main 23 keeping fresh for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship tilt against the Lions, but had enough strength in depth to see off the Griquas despite a red card for flanker OJ Noa.

In a niggly game, the home side led 18-6 when Noa was sent off for head-high contact in a tackle. Sharks scrum-half Cameron Wright had scored the only try of the first half, converted by Jordan Chait and adding to his earlier penalty, but the Griquas could easily have been ahead had Zander du Plessis had his kicking boots on.

Sharks hooker Dan Jooste scored a try and Murray Koster, on for Chait who had also been misfiring from the tee, added a penalty before Noa’s departure.

From the penalty, the Griquas kicked to the corner and drove Justin Forwood over.

Sharks substitute scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba landed two well-taken penalties, sandwiching one from Du Plessis, but the second Nohamba penalty took the Sharks 24-16 clear and left the Griquas with just too much to do. A last-minute try from Sango Xamlashe at least gave them a deserved bonus point.

Western Province 21-40 Blue Bulls

Not a match for the locals to enjoy as the Blue Bulls obliterated their old rivals at DHL Stadium.

The scoreline speaks for itself and there was more than a little disquiet among the locals during the second half, with Western Province 40-0 down at one stage.

The Blue Bulls were 28-0 to the good at the break, with tries from James Verity-Amm, Canan Moodi, Muller Uys and Cyle Brink, all converted by Morne Steyn.

It continued in the same fashion in the second half, with Bismarck du Plessis scoring his first Currie Cup try in 13 years and Marco Jansen van Vuren also dotting down before the visitors eased off a bit.

Nama Xaba finally got Western Province on the board after 65 minutes and late tries from Tristan Leyds and Marcel Theunissen added another shred of respectability to the scoreline, while the Blue Bulls’ night was soured a bit by a red card for replacement front-rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels.