Vodacom Cup
Seven of the best for WP
2009-03-07 17:21
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Cape Town - Vodacom Western Province kicked off their R1-million Vodacom Cup campaign with an entertaining 49-13 (halftime 28-3) victory over an outgunned but spirited BA Mighty Elephants team at Newlands on Saturday afternoon.
The home side scored seven converted tries to one in a free-flowing match that produced enough encouraging moments for coaches Jerome Paarwater and Chris Grobler at this early stage of the season, although the number of handling errors from both sides will be a concern.
In front of a paltry crowd of barely 200, the home side opened their account as early as the second minute when fullback Hayden Groepes sliced through a wall of would-be tacklers to dive over at the posts after good running by debutant No 8 Jody Burch.
Flyhalf Joe Pietersen, who produced a man-of-the-match performance in the No 10 jersey with a personal haul of 24 points, kicked the first of his seven conversions to make it 7-0 as smatterings of applause echoed around the largely deserted stadium.
In fact, the sight of a tumbleweed rolling across the outfield would not have been out of place as there was not a single spectator to be seen in the Railway, Danie Craven or Jan Pickard stands.
One can’t help but conclude that the WP decision-makers missed a trick by not ‘taking the game to the communities’, to use a marketing phrase by the tournament sponsor, as was the case this weekend in Petrusburg, Mossel Bay, Tembisa and Randfontein.
Be that as it may, the men from Eastern Province, who lost 43-20 to the SWD Eagles last week in the Karoo town of Uniondale, recovered well after that early setback and competed well for the next 20 minutes, thanks in part to over-elaboration by the WP backs that resulted in a number of forward passes and knock-ons.
But the home side then then took the game by the scruff of the neck with three more converted tries in a seven-minute spell.
Pietersen scored the first of those in the 23rd minute thanks to a strong run from Hilton Lobberts, the former Springbok flank who enjoyed a good afternoon at lock.
With the Elephants struggling at scrum time (where they were heavily penalised by referee Jonathan Kaplan), centre Morgan Newman scored WP’s third try two minutes later after a well-weighted grubber by none other than skipper and hooker Hanyani Shimange to make it 21-0.
EP managed to get onto the board when fullback Ryan Brown, who possesses a deadly boot, kicked an excellent long-range penalty to cut the deficit to 18 points.
But no sooner had he done that than WP flanker Pieter Myburgh drove over under the posts for Pietersen to once again convert and hand his team the four-try bonus point.
Brown kicked his second penalty shortly after the break to make it 28-6 but Groepes replied with his second try after 50 minutes to extend the lead once again to 33-6.
Pietersen, who did not miss a kick all afternoon, converted from the touchline but WP thereafter hit the snooze button, allowing the Elephants to scrap manfully at the breakdowns and gain parity in the possession and territory stakes for much of the last 30 minutes.
Their fighting attitude was epitomised by Michael Vermaak, the blond No 8 from Despatch, who proved to be a handful all afternoon whenever he carried the ball.
Pietersen eventually woke the fans from their afternoon nap when he scored his second try in the right-hand corner with eight minutes remaining and then converted it again from the tramlines.
The visitors had few try-scoring opportunities but left-wing Elcardo Mintoor will be kicking himself all the way back to Port Elizabeth after he scythed through the WP defences in the 75th minute, only to drop the ball with the line at his mercy and not a blue and white jersey in sight.
But Mintoor’s wing partner Ryan January made no such mistake in the dying minutes when the No 14 outsprinted the cover defence from inside his own half to put his team into double figures in what was the most exciting passage of play all day.
Scorers:
Vodacom WP 49 – Tries: Hayden Groepes (2), Joe Pietersen (2), Morgan Newman (2), Pieter Myburgh. Conversions: Pietersen (7).
BA Mighty Elephants 13 – Try: Ryan January. Penalties: Ryan Brown (2). Conversion: Deon Booysen.