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Cape Town - There were handling errors aplenty from both sides as Western Province edged the Blue Bulls 30-16 in the first round of Currie Cup qualifiers at Newlands on Friday.
The home side scored three tries to just one from the Blue Bulls and they had carved out a 20-16 half-time lead.
The opening two WP tries came in quick succession.
First Daniel du Plessis crossed the whitewash and then, soon after, his midfield partner Tim Whitehead scored with a good finish.
Young flyhalf Brandon Thompson, tipped to join the Stormers Super Rugby squad on Monday, was accurate with the boot in the the opening period.
The Blue Bulls closed the gap with a try of their own through prop Nqobisizwe Mxoli while Tony Jantjies kept them in the game with three penalties.
The second half, though, struggled to get going and WP had to wait until the 79th minute for their third try through substitute forward Meyer Swanepoel.
Scorers
WP
Tries: Daniel du Pessis, Tim Whitehead, Meyer Swanepoel
Conversions: Brandon Thompson (3)
Penalties: Thompson (3)
Bulls
Try: Nqobisizwe Mxoli
Conversion: Tony Jantjies
Penalties: Jantjies (3)
Teams:
Western Province
15 Grant Hermanus, 14 EW Viljoen, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Daniel du Plessis, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Brandon Thomson, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Jacques Vermeulen, 7 Luke Stringer, 6 Eital Bredenkamp (c), 5 Chris van Zyl, 4 Jurie van Vuuren, 3 JP Smith, 2 Mike Willemse, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Substitutes: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Frans van Wyk, 18 Meyer Swanepoel, 19 Tertius Daniller, 20 Damian Stevens, 21 Berton Klaassen, 22 JP Lewis.
Blue Bulls
15 Manie Libbok, 14 Jade Stighling, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Franco Naude, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Tony Jantjies, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Hanro Liebenberg (c), 7 Freddy Ngoza, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Entienne Swanepoel, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Nqobisizwe Mxoli.
Substitutes: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Njabulo Gumede, 18 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 19 Le Roux Roets, 20 Tapiwa Tsomondo, 21 Theo Maree, 22 Kefenste Mahalo.
