Province off to a winning start

Captain Luke Watson scored two tries as Western Province got their 2006 Currie Cup season off to a winning start with a 25-18 win over the Pumas in Witbank on Friday night. A win on the road is like gold, even though the visitors failed to collect a bonus point.

The teams scored three tries each, but it was Watson's two first-half tries - in the 15th and 23rd minutes, that gave his team a lead they never conceded.

Add to that the solid goal-kicking of Peter Grant, playing at inside centre rather than his more accustomed position of fly-half, and in the end WP had that edge that separates the good teams from the brave outfits who always put up a fight but seldom have the killer instinct to win the close ones.

Jeandré Fourie opened the scoring for the Pumas with a fourth-minute penalty, which was cancelled out by a Grant penalty three minutes later.

Watson scored the first of his two tries in the 15th minute and Grant missed the conversion, but when Watson scored again eight minutes later (this time Grant converted) WP had opened a gap big enough to ensure the home would have to work very hard to record a win.

While Sam Gerber hit back almost immediately for the home team with a well-taken try, Province still took a 15-8 lead into the break.

And when prop JD Moller scored for Province in the 66th minute, converted by Grant, the 14-point (22-8) lead appeared just too big for the Pumas.

There were late tries by Lourens Dunn (70th minute) and Riaan van der Merwe (injury time), split by another Grant penalty, but the Cape Town outfit had done enough to secure a valuable win.

Watson certainly led from the front and showed why so many people keep asking Springbok coach Jake White what he (White) has against Watson. Forget about White's excuses of Watson being too small and the Boks not needing specialist fetchers. Watson gives your 100 percent effort in every game, which is a lot more than what you can say of some of White's other selections.

The scorers:

For the Pumas:
Tries: Dunn, Van der Merwe, Gerber
Pen: Fourie

For Western Province:
Tries: Moller, Watson 2
Cons: Grant 2
Pens: Grant 2

Teams:

Pumas: 15 Jeandré Fourie, 14 Darryl Coeries, 13 Sam Gerber, 12 Hendrik Meyer, 11 Hyron Thysse, 10 Pieter Benadé, 9 Ashieq Wise, 8 Riaan van der Merwe (captain), 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Corné Steenkamp, 5 Jacques Lombard, 4 Stephen Gerber, 3 Pierre du Toit, 2 Frikkie de Jager, 1 Jacques Muller
Replacements: 16 Ashton Constant, 17 Simon-Peter Blakeley, 18 Bokkie Swanepoel, 19 Danzel Manuel, 20 Arno Coetzee, 21 Sasha Marot, 22 Lourens Dunn.

Vodacom Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Chumani Booi, 13 Corne Uys, 12 Peter Grant, 11 Joe Pietersen, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Bolla Conradie, 8 Robbie Diack, 7 Gerrie Britz, 6 Luke Watson (captain), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Francois Van Der Merwe, 3 Attie Winter, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 JD Moller.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Riaan Vermeulen, 19 Justin Melck, 20 Neil de Kock, 21 Sarel Potgieter, 22 Gus Theron

Referee: Linston Manuels (Boland)
Touch judges: Michael Cupido (Golden Lions), Lourens van der Merwe (Free State)