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Cape Town - A last-gasp penalty from Damian Willemse helped Western Province to a thrilling 46-45 Currie Cup win over the Blue Bulls in Pretoria on Sunday.
It was a seesaw encounter which yielded 13 tries at Loftus Versfeld.
The Blue Bulls thought they had sneaked a victory when centre JT Jackson scored their seventh try with three minutes remaining, only to see WP snatch victory after the hooter.
Willemse, who played out of position at fullback in this derby clash, calmly stepped up to slot the penalty and hand his side a vital five points.
Despite trailing 19-17 at half-time, WP had led for large parts in the game - 17-7 in the first half, as well as 38-26 and 43-31 in the second period.
In the end they will be relieved having claimed their first away victory of the competition.
WP’s bonus point victory saw them move ahead of Free State into second spot on the overall log, while the Bulls remain second from bottom having won just three of 10 games.
In next weekend’s action, the Bulls travel to Bloemfontein to tackle the Free State Cheetahs (Friday, October 6 - 18:00), while Western Province tackle the Golden Lions in Johannesburg (Sunday, October 8 - 14:30).
Scorers:
Blue Bulls
Tries: Warrick Gelant, Nic de Jager, Edgar Marutlulle, Piet van Zyl, Duncan Matthews, Ulrich Beyers, JT Jackson
Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (3), Tony Jantjies (2)
Western Province
Tries: JD Schickerling, Robert du Preez, Nizaam Carr, Seabelo Senatla (2), Huw Jones
Conversions: Robert du Preez (5)
Penalties: Du Preez, Damian Willemse
Teams:
Blue Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Burger Odendaal (captain), 12 JT Jackson, 11 Johnny Kotze, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Nic de Jager, 7 Tim Agaba, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Substitutes: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 18 Jano Venter, 19 Boom Prinsloo, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Tony Jantjies, 22 Ulrich Beyers
Western Province
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Werner Kok, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg
Substitutes: 16 Dean Muir, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Jan de Klerk, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Dewaldt Duvenage, 22 Ruhan Nel
