Province stroll to bonus-point win

Western Province notched their first bonus-point win of the season on Friday with a 42-23 win over the Leopards in Potchefstroom.

Western Province notched their first bonus-point win of the season on Friday with a 42-23 win over the Leopards in Potchefstroom.

Province had the bonus point secured by the 43rd minute and the gap betwen the teams would have been wider had the visitors not let through two soft late tries.

That made it six tries to three in total in an entertaining clash, with WP consolidating top spot on the table.

They played as well as they have played all season – albeit against limited opposition – with only the late lapses in concentration and a few unnecessary turnovers blemishing the display.

Otherwise, the threats came from all over – from the rangy running that led to tries for Conrad Hoffman and Frikkie Welsh, to the forward power that drove Pieter Louw over from 10m out for the fourth try.

The home side had precious little to cheer about bar the excellent work that led to Dumisane Matyeshana's late first-half score, but the intercept from Jovan Bowles that gave them their second was greeted by wild appreciation from the home crowd, as was the length of the field move that culminated in the third from Deon Scholtz.

The scorers:

For Western Province
Tries: Harris, Welsh, Bosch, Louw, Hoffmann, Myburgh
Cons: De Waal 3
Pens: De Waal 2

For the Leopards: Tries: Matyeshana, Bowles, Scholtz
Con: Tiedt
Pen: Tiedt
Drop goal: Jacobs

Yellow card: Jean Tiedt (Leopards, 54 – tip tackle)

Western Province:15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Fabian Juries, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Frikkie Welsh, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Rynardt Elstadt, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Anton van Zyl (c), 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 JD Moller
Replacements:16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 JC Kritzinger, 18 Martin Muller, 19 Yaya Hartzenberg, 20 Pieter Myburgh, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Lionel Cronjé.

Leopards: 15 Jean Tiedt, 14 Deon Scholtz, 13 Jovan Bowles, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Dumisane Matyeshana, 10 Neill Jacobs, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Riaan Swanepoel, 7 Wilhelm Koch, 6 Danie Crous, 5 Rynard Landman, 4 Anthonie Gronum, 3 Barend van der Walt, 2 Gavin Williams, 1 Divan Kotzé.
Replacements: 16 Marthinus van der Westhuizen, 17 Johan Coetzee, 18 Edrich Linde, 19 Reginald Kember, 20 Clayton Durand, 21 Shuaib Samaai, 22 Danie Dames.

Referee:Sindile Mayende