Composed WP claim top spot

Western Province moved to the top of the Currie Cup standings with a hard-fought 29-22 victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

The Cape side outscored their hosts by two tries to one, which proved to be the vital difference between the teams as both goal-kickers landed five penalties each in a tense Currie Cup clash.

The result will be particularly frustrating for the Cheetahs who were hoping to bounce back from their last-minute defeat to the Sharks last week in front of their home crowd, but they came up short once more to claim yet another losing bonus point.

The visitors started the game in sensational fashion when a neat offload from Marcel Brache released the electric Gio Aplon who chipped ahead and collected just short of the line before diving over for the try.

After that early shock the Cheetahs regrouped well and two penalties from the boot of Nico Scheepers brought them within one point at 7-6.

After some scrappy play which saw possession change hands without much penetration on attack from either side Western Province flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis was able to extend his team's lead with a penalty when Davon Raubenheimer strayed offside.

Raubenheimer made amends almost immediately when he broke a few tackles on the left before getting the pass away to Pieter Labuschagne who held it up well and handed it over to scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius who went over unopposed for his team's first try which put them in the lead for the first time in the match at 13-10.

That lead was extended ahead of half-time, as both goal-kickers maintained their flawless records, with Scheepers landing two to Catrakilis' solitary penalty, and the home side took a valuable 19-13 advantage into the break.

The start of the second half was fairly cagey as both sides tried to gain territorial dominance with the boot, and it was Western Province who took advantage of their field position as three unanswered penalties from Catrakilis punished the Cheetahs' indiscipline and gave his side a slender 22-19 lead.

The Cheetahs needed to respond after leaking nine points in the first 20 minutes of the second half and they managed to level things up at 22-22 when Scheepers got their first points of the half with a penalty from in front of the poles.

Western Province were enjoying the majority of possession and had the Cheetahs defence under pressure in their 22 which eventually resulted in a try as Catrakilis and Brache combined superbly.

The flyhalf summed up the situation perfectly with the Cheetahs rushing up on defence, and stabbed a delicate kick over the top which bounced perfectly for Brache who collected to go over for a deserved try which put his team 29-22 ahead.

The Cheetahs were desperate to get back into the game with just ten minutes remaining and they threw everything at Province, running the ball from deep within their own territory in an attempt to produce a try of their own in response.

However, it was not to be as the Province defence held firm to secure a valuable victory which sees them move to the top of the Currie Cup pile at the halfway mark in the competition.

Man of the match: Western Province centre Marcel Brache was solid on defence, provided a vital spark in midfield and was central to both his team's tries.

The scorers:

For the Cheetahs:

Try: Pretorius

Con: Scheepers

Pens: Scheepers 5

For Western Province:

Tries: Aplon, Brache

Cons: Catrakalis 2

Pens: Catrakilis 5

Teams:

Free State Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Nico Scheepers, 13 Robert Ebersohn (captain), 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Davon Raubenheimer, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Hercu Liebenberg, 1 Schalk van der Merwe.

Replacements: 16 Elandré Huggett, 17 Ross Geldenhuys, 18 Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Hendro Scholtz, 20 Tewis du Bruyn, 21 Phillip Snyman, 22 Rayno Benjamin.

Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Damian de Allende, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Deon Carstens.

Replacements: 16 Steven Kitshoff, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Helmut Lehmann, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Patrick Howard, 22 Kurt Coleman.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan

Assistants: Joey Salmans, Francois Groenewald

TMO: Gerrie Coetzee