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SP Marais late withdrawal 'affected' WP's plans

Cape Town - Western Province coach John Dobson could not hide his disappointment after his side lead let a big lead slip to fall to a narrow 30-28 defeat against the Golden Lions in their Currie Cup clash at Newlands on Saturday.

The home side dominated the contest in the early stages and at one stage found themselves 21-7 to the good.

The Lions however came roaring back in the second half and eventually snatched victory close to the end to condemn Province to their second Currie Cup loss in three games this season.

Dobson said after the game: "It's very disappointing to go from 21-7 and go and lose a game like that.

"I thought we had a tough time with some of the interpretations at the breakdown and offside.

"I made a mistake in not going for poles, in hindsight I should have taken it to go 11 points clear."

Dobson also said the fact that the wing SP Marais was forced pulled out of the team due to injury just before kick-off could have disrupted the team.

Province will now have to win their remaining games to stand a chance of qualifying for the Currie Cup playoffs.

"We had a disruption or two before the game with SP pulling out in the warm-up and that affected the whole kicking plan we had for the game," said Dobson.

"We're going to have to win every game now, we're under real pressure. This was a game we had to win and until the 75th minute, I thought we were going to."

Western Province will have a bye this coming weekend before tackling Griquas.

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