In their final Carling Currie Cup match of the pool stages, the Cell C Sharks went down to DHL Western Province 35-24 at Jonsson Kings Park on Saturday evening.
It was always going to be a potentially difficult game given that the Cell C Sharks had already secured a home semi-final, while Province came to Durban needing a five-pointer so slip into the top four – achieving exactly that.
The visitors were first to get on the scoreboard, managing to put the Cell C Sharks under pressure early and while they were repelled for a period, finally managed to break the defence for the first try in the seventh minute.
Curwin Bosch cut the lead to four points following a scrum and then off-sides penalty, but Province took advantage of a loose ball off a high kick to score their second try, this one in the corner as they were halfway to their aim of scoring a bonus point win to finish in the top four after languishing outside the semi-finals. The conversion took them into a 14-3 lead inside the opening 15 minutes.
Then came the try of the match, Sanele Nohamba making the initial break after powerful work from Werner Kok, Curwin Bosch and Phepsi Buthelezi combining before Yaw Penxe closed off well in the corner, with Bosch converting to bring his team right back into the game.
The Cell C Sharks took the lead on the half hour with the DHS combination of Sanele Nohamba taking a quick tap penalty and then feeding his captain Phepsi Buthelezi who did well to fend off the defence to score the second try, with Bosch adding the extras for a 17-14 lead.
Two converted tries apiece and just a penalty separating the teams was the difference, but it was clear that both sides were going to play positive, energetic rugby and the tempo did not let up.
Province enjoyed a purple patch in the early stages of the second half and the Cell C Sharks barely got a touch of the ball before the Cape side scored their third try, the conversion taking them into a 21-17 lead.
The game became fairly scrappy in the middle part of the second half, neither side managing to capitalise off some enterprising efforts. It took until the game hit the final 10 minutes when the Cell C Sharks retook the lead, a lovely break from Lionel Cronje out of nothing and then the chip and chase, finished off by a racing Yaw Penxe for his second try of the game, with Bosch adding the conversion to push his team into a 24-21 lead.
Two minutes later Province had the bonus point try that sent them into the top four and a four point lead with the conversion and with time running away from them, they couldn’t overhaul the score with one of their own.
They played nearly two minutes of extra time in search of that fourth try, but an intercept try put paid to the result and Province will contest the semi-finals next weekend, with the Cell C Sharks hosting Tafel Lager Griquas at Jonsson Kings Park with Province travelling to Pretoria in the other semi.