WP return to winning ways

Western Province captain Chris van Zyl couldn’t hide his relief as his team broke their Currie Cup drought with a 36-6 win over the EP Kings in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.

After two straight defeats to the Blue Bulls and the Cheetahs, Province needed this result to get their campaign back on course.

“EP gave us a good fight and we are obviously delighted to finally get the win, but we also realise a lot of work lies ahead as we will try to work on the mistakes we made,” said Van Zyl.

Next up they are hosting the high-flying Sharks at Newlands this weekend. The Durban side retained their top position with a grinding 26-19 win over the Blue Bulls in Durban.

Even though they enjoyed a stuttering start to the game and were soon trailing 3-0 in the Friendly City, Province were full of running and scored the first try of the game through flying wing Leolin Zas (above).

Province scored six tries in total, with three in each half, and it was Zas who was again in the action to send centre Huw Jones over for their second try, while No 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe’s try just before the break ensured them a 17-6 advantage.

The Kings paid the price for ill-discipline as they were shown two yellow cards. No 8 Christiaan de Bruin was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle and flanker Etienne Oosthuizen was shown a yellow card for a cynical infringement soon afterwards.

Province went on to score 19 unanswered points in the second half.