WP salvage last-minute draw against Golden Lions |
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February 26 - The Golden Lions took two away points and denied Western Province a win on the opening weekend of the Vodacom Cup when they drew their match at Newlands 18-all.
Both sides scored two tries in a match. The home side was fortunate to snatch a draw when they converted a penalty by Kurt Coleman in the last minute.
Prior to Coleman’s equalising penalty it looked as if substitute hooker Edgar Marutlulle had scored a match-winning try for the visitors. However, WP launched one final flurry upfield and were rewarded with the penalty that ensured the teams shared the log points evenly between them.
The match was an error-strewn affair and both sides will hope to have better days than this in terms of their performances for the rest of the season.
Province really could have won it, but flyhalf Sam Lane only succeeded with one out of four kicks in the first half. He did, however, throw a delightful long pass that centre Johann Sadie ran onto minutes before halftime for their first try.
The Lions started the brighter of the two sides, with flyhalf André Pretorius first giving them the lead with a drop goal and centre Jannie Boshoff running down a grubber to score after Lane had levelled the scores with his only successful kick.
Pretorius stretched the lead to 13-8 with a penalty after halftime, but the momentum then swung WP’s way when Bom Samaai finished with just under 20 minutes left on the clock.
Unfortunately the home side were left to rue some sloppy defence and Marutlulle was able to touch down.
For a while it looked as if it might be enough for the Lions, but WP were rewarded for their final surge and Coleman made no mistake.
Scorers:
WP 18 - Tries: Johann Sadie, Bom Samaai. Conversion: Kurt Coleman. Penalties: Sam Lane, Coleman.
Lions 18 - Tries: Jannie Boshoff, Edgar Marutlulle. Conversion: André Pretorius. Penalty: Pretorius. Drop goal: Pretorius.
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