Province plunge into the depths

Dumped: Nick Koster gets some Sharks treatment

Western Province's Currie Cup campaign is teetering on the brink of collapse after a 32-10 defeat at home to the Sharks in Cape Town on Friday.

At various stages of the match the Sharks were under the whip in open play but their defence held out and capitalised heavily on Province's lapses.

A mere 40 seconds into the match, Sharks hooker Skipper Badenhorst crashed over for a try in rather fortuitous fashion. Province had just managed to steal the Sharks' ball with a deflection in the first line-out of the match.

However, they allowed the Sharks to grab the stray ball before Badenhorst rounded off the raid from 22m out. Sharks scrum-half Ruan Pienaar failed with the conversion.

There were encouraging signs in the ensuing minutes that WP had shaken off the early setback as they bounced back with enterprising raids from inside their own half, one of which was sprung by new cap Nick Koster.

Scrum-half Bolla Conradie was on hand to round off with a touchdown but referee Jonathan Kaplan ruled an infringement in the build-up play. In what was a vastly-improved display by the Capetonians, they were holding their own at the set-pieces although they battled to protect their ball in the loose.

The upfield kicking for possession by Frederic Michalak and Province new boy Joe Pietersen hardly made an impact but it did present counter-attacking opportunities, and on one occasion Gio Aplon wormed his way past six defenders before he was collared close to the Sharks' 22m line, in the 14th minute. Three minutes later Pienaar was on target with a penalty to make it 8-0.

The Sharks came close to a try, somewhat against the run of play, but once the home side had seen that threat off they mounted one attack after the other on the Sharks defence, without any reward.

They came close on two occasions but the one time they managed to breach the Sharks' defence, a knock-on occurred with the tryline in sight. Pietersen brought some cheer for the 21,000-strong crowd with a penalty before the break.

Province started the second half on an enterprising note, but their audacity bordered on the suicidal and they paid the price when their defence was caught in disarray and Sharks full-back Stefan Terblanche ran in unopposed for his side's second try.

This time Pienaar goaled the conversion.

Again the setback did not deter Province and they camped in the Sharks' 22m area but this time they came good with their first try, scored by Koster, in the 50th minute. Pietersen added the conversion, but the 15-10 scoreline still failed to accurately reflect the home side's grip on the game. The Sharks went further ahead five minutes later when Michalak snapped over a drop from 35m out.

More woe for the home side followed just on the hour when Michalak joined in on the try-scoring act with the Sharks' third touchdown. Pienaar was on target with the conversion to open up a commanding 25-10 lead for the Durban visitors.

Pietersen left the field injured - another WP fly-half gone - and was replaced by 22-year-old Matthew Rosslee.

Substitute Albert van den Berg crowned a Shark counter-attack with his team's fourth try, six minutes from the end.

The scorers:

For Western Province:

Try: Koster

Con: Pietersen

Pen: Pietersen

For the Sharks:

Tries: Badenhorst, Terblanche, Michalak, Van den Berg

Cons: Pienaar 3

Pen: Pienaar

Drop goal: Michalak

Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Wylie Human, 13 PJ Vermeulen, 12 Gcobani Bobo (captain), 11 Tonderai Chavhanga, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Bolla Conradie, 8 Nick Köster, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Wicus Blaauw.

Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt/Deon Fourie, 17 JC Kritzinger, 18 AJ Venter, 19 Conraad Britz, 20 Dewaldt Duvenhage, 21 Matthew Rosslee, 22 Morgan Newman.

Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Francois Steyn, 11 Chris Jordaan, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Keegan Daniel/Nikolai Blignaut, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Johann Muller (captain), 4 Albert van den Berg, 3 Jannie du Plessis/BJ Botha, 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Deon Carstens.

Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 BJ Botha/Jannie du Plessis, 18 Steven Sykes, 19 Skholiwe Ndlovu, 20 Scott Mathie, 21 Bradley Barritt, 22 Riaan Swanepoel.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan

Touch judges: Phillip Bosch, Marc van Zyl

Television match official: Shaun Veldsman

Assessor: Thuso Mngqibisa