The Sanlam Boland Cavaliers beat the Vodacom Bulls XV 24-10 (halftime 14-3) in a rain-soaked first-round Carling Currie Cup Premier Division match at a packed Boland Stadium in Wellington on Sunday.
Tries to front-rowers Joshua Eras and Dayan van der Westhuizen, combined with a heroic defensive effort that never flagged, ensured that the Cavaliers were full value for their winning start to this year’s campaign.
The Bulls, in turn, leave the Cape Winelands without a single log point to show for their efforts.
The poor weather produced a stop-start, error-strewn match but one which remained enthralling throughout, the conditions ensuring that neither side were never quite out of the contest until a penalty try five minutes from time sealed the deal for the Cavaliers.
The fourth and final match of the opening round of the world’s oldest provincial rugby competition took place in typical Cape winter weather, with rain and a heavy, muddy field setting the table for a battle of attrition – and so it proved.
It might therefore not have been the try-fest the capacity crowd had hoped to see, but the cold fronts that sweep the Western Cape at this time of year are baked into the region’s rugby DNA, and the educated fans would no doubt have appreciated the gritty nature of the contest – as well as their team’s determination to take the physical battle to the Bulls.
A bit of inclement weather has also never prevented Boland rugby fans from turning up to support their team – and the capacity crowd, complete with a brass band that played from first whistle to last – were on their feet as early as the sixth minute when hooker Joshua Eras was driven over from a short-range penalty lineout drive.
IRON GRIP
Fullback James Tedder added the extra points, but this proved to be the tall former UCT fullback’s first and last contribution of the match after he was helped from the field shortly afterwards, having collided on the slippery field with a Bulls player.
The locals maintained an iron grip on the match throughout the opening quarter, their territorial dominance was made all the more stifling when the sin-binning of Bulls lock Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg ensured his team temporarily surrendered the numerical advantage, too.
But for all their efforts – and 10 penalties in total conceded by the Bulls in the opening stanza – Hawies Fourie’s Cavaliers just could not make all of that territory and possession count, the tough conditions leading to several knock-ons just when a second score looked on the cards.
The dam wall eventually did break in the 26th minute when tighthead prop Dayan van der Westhuizen, whose front-row battle with Dylan Smith was worth the admission price by itself – found himself on the right wing of all places to finish off a period of concerted pressure.
The try allowed Phiwe Nomlomo’s Bulls to finally escape their own 22-metre area and set up camp at the other end of the field. Boland’s defence proved up to the task but the visitors did take a small ray of hope into the sheds when Keagan Johannes kicked a post-hooter penalty from point-blank range after the hosts went offside.
RAIN CONTINUES TO FALL
The second half produced more of the same as the rain continued to fall and conditions became more treacherous. Jayden Bantom’s penalty after 48 minutes opened a crucial 14-point lead as the final half-hour approached.
The Bulls finally slid over the whitewash in the 58th minute courtesy of 21-year-old replacement hooker Shaun Schürmann, with Johannes adding the extra two to set up an intriguing final quarter.
The Cavaliers had enjoyed two-thirds of the territorial upper hand up to this point but the increasingly challenging conditions ensured that the hosts, who continued to spill the ball in promising positions, could not quite apply the coup de grace until the closing minutes, when a collapsed driving maul earned the Bolanders a penalty try and a yellow card to tireless visiting skipper Nama Xaba.
The match capped an enthralling and tightly contested opening weekend of Carling Currie Cup action, with the weekend’s four matches producing an average winning margin of only six points.
In the season-opener played on Friday, the Hollywoodbets Sharks upset the Airlink Pumas 26-24 in Mbombela, followed by the rebranded DHL Stormers XXIII – which has replaced the traditional Western Province nameplate in the competition – downing the defending champion Suzuki Griquas 25-19 at DHL Stadium in Cape Town.
Sunday’s lunchtime fixture saw Frans Steyn’s Toyota Cheetahs get their campaign off to a winning start with a nail-biting 29-27 victory over the Fidelity ADT Lions in sunny Bloemfontein.
SCORERS:
Sanlam Boland Cavaliers 24 – Tries: Joshua Eras, Dayan van der Westhuizen, penalty try; Conversions: James Tedder, Jayden Bantom; Penalty: Bantom.
Vodacom Bulls XV 10 – Try: Shaun Schürmann; Conversion: Keagan Johannes; Penalty: Johannes.