Province end trophy drought
18 May 2012
WP snatched a dramatic 20-18 victory in Friday’s Vodacom Cup final to win their first title in 11 years.
Not since Western Province lifted the 2001 Currie Cup has a Cape side won a senior competition. WP left it until the last play to secure Friday’s result, but the manner of victory will not worry the Capetonians. The silverware will bring a small degree of relief to a union that’s had no success in terms of winning titles over the past decade.
Province may have come into this clash unbeaten, but they were the lesser side for much of the game. Griquas were dominant at the set pieces and collisions, and bossed territory and possession for the majority of the contest. It was all WP could do to hold on and prevent Griquas from running away with the game.
As the end approached, one couldn’t help but feel that the loser would bear the tag of choker. Griquas had dominated but missed several penalty attempts in the fourth quarter, and in retrospect just one of those penalties would have been enough to win the title.
Before the decisive score, WP had botched several scoring opportunities. Five metres out from their opponents’ line, they conceded scrum turnovers on two occasions. Captain Nick Fenton-Wells turned down a kickable penalty after 67 minutes, and the decision proved flawed as WP lost the subsequent lineout.
But for all of their failings, they never gave up. The Griquas defence was superb, and there seemed to be no way through. It required no small measure of patience for WP to wear Griquas down, and when the hosts finally relented, flanker Rohan Kitshoff was the man to crash over and level the scores.
It was still down to Demetri Catrakilis to win the game, as the conversion was by no means a sitter. The WP flyhalf slotted it coolly, giving WP their first ever win in this competition.
22 Comments
18 May 2012, 21:10 pm
Well done John Dobson.
18 May 2012, 21:15 pm
Is there some depth in the Cape? I’d say so…
18 May 2012, 21:18 pm
Now fill it with wine! Next cup coming soon….
18 May 2012, 21:44 pm
Well done boys
One down, two to go…still can’t understand why we had to import a Canadian.
18 May 2012, 21:46 pm
They will claim any trophy down in the Cape it seems.
Even the Vodacom one.
First it was the Plascon Cup, then the “Conference Winners”… now the Vodacom Cup.
Congratulations
Seriously, I reckon the Plascon Cup is more of an achievement than the Vodacom Cup.
18 May 2012, 21:50 pm
@thesaint(thesaint)-2: there is a lot of depth in the cape with lots of players also out injured for the stormers and they still doing well. Saw quinn roux for the first time tonite. He is huge! Much more bulkier than bekker and etzebeth. He will make a great enforcer. Stormers lock stocks are looking like the bulls of yesteryear.
18 May 2012, 21:53 pm
Those uncontested scrum bs played into the Province hands at the end.
Why was Brummer replaced?
18 May 2012, 21:54 pm
Yoh! When one doesn’t win anything then the first bit of silverware will go down nicely. Just encourage Province/Stormers to keep going at it. Still many peaks of Mt Cups to reach.
Of course, Bulls fans will rain on our parade with “we’ve-won-three-times”. Good on you, but let us savour this.
18 May 2012, 21:55 pm
Wp to take the treble this year!
18 May 2012, 22:01 pm
@Golden Boy(Golden Boy)
Allistair said he needed experience and did not want to disrupt the Vodacom side. He was right.
18 May 2012, 22:08 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-5:
You’re right the Plascon Cup is more important.
Only because we like to drill the Sharkies in the pre-season friendlies.
18 May 2012, 22:11 pm
@IAAS(I am a stormer)-11: someone hit the *wrong answer* buzzer, the Sharkies don’t do Plascon anymore, they realised how meaningless it is.
18 May 2012, 22:16 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-12:
Only because they were tired of getting drilled again and their season off to a poor start.
18 May 2012, 22:27 pm
WP to coast towards a Blue Bull type 5 year dominance
Rassie planted the seeds
18 May 2012, 22:58 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-5:
The Sharks tried very hard to win this competition.
They nearly made the semi’s but were knocked out by the Bullswho scored a try in the last minute.
Poor Sharks were devestated- some were crying- i felt so bad for them.
But that is sport, there can only be one winner.
Province !!!
18 May 2012, 23:40 pm
DHL Western Province: Kurt Coleman, Danie Poolman, JP du Plessis, Marcel Brache, Ederies Arendse, Demetri Catrakilis, Nic Groom (vice-captain); Nick Fenton-Wells (captain), Tyrone Holmes, Rohan Kitshoff, Quinn Roux, Hilton Lobberts, Tom Botha, Sidney Tobias, Schalk Ferreira. Replacements (from): Rob Herring, Deon Carstens, Wilhelm van der Sluys, Reuben Johannes, Rick Schroeder, Mike van der Spuy, Berton Klaasen, Damian de Allende, Gerbrandt Grobler.
here my picks for higher honors soon
watch Sidney Tobias, son of Springbok fly half Errol Tobias, at hooker.. can play senior SR very soon.. very strong and committed in the loose, breaks and makes tackles willingly all throughout his untiring 80 minute contribution
Kurt Coleman, JP Du Plessis, Ederies Arendse, Marcel Brache .. all capable of stepping it up into the bigger division
Groom, Roux and Fenton-Wells too
19 May 2012, 05:54 am
Spooner…its not about the cup, its about the fact that almost 30 WP regulars were out with either injury or the Stormers, and still there were 22 players, better than the rest of SA’s up and comers… That is impressive…
19 May 2012, 06:34 am
@RugbyStudent(RugbyStudent)-10:
If that was his real reason he should have brought him in for the one game only. Although I remember reading somewhere (possibly on KEO) that he did not feel that the juniors had the big abrasive type of loosie that he was looking for. So I think he was wrong as I feel that we have more than enough stocks at the moment as has been alluded to by other comments on this thread.
19 May 2012, 08:34 am
Um, ja, it may be a senior trophy, but hardly one anyone cares about.
19 May 2012, 09:35 am
Didn’t watch but well done to the Mountain Goats!
19 May 2012, 12:59 pm
@CenturionShark (aka LondonShark)(londonshark)-19:
Um, ja…it shows that WP has enough depth whereas the Sharks….ah forget it. can’t waste my time on sour grapes.
19 May 2012, 15:46 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-12:
@CenturionShark (aka LondonShark)(londonshark)-19: If indeed nobody cared about this meaningless competition you wouldn’t need to post comments about how nobody cares about this meaningless competition. Your need to comment proves the perfidiousness of the comments themselves.
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