WP dig deep to beat Blue Bulls in Newlands humdinger

Cape Town - Western Province had to dig deep before finally overcoming a valiant Blue Bulls side in extra time in their Currie Cup semi-final at Newlands on Saturday.

As it happened: WP v Blue Bulls

WP, who trailed 17-15 at half-time, eventually ran out 35-32 winners after it took 20 minutes of additional time to separate the sides.

WP fans were left tearing out their hair after they botched a scrum on their own 5m line while leading 32-27 - with the 80-minute hooter having sounded - only to see Blitzboks star Dylan Sage score in the corner.

Bulls pivot Manie Libbok's potential match-winning conversion sailed high and wide to the right to send the match into extra time.

A ding-dong period of extra time saw the only change in scoring a SP Marais penalty in the second 10-minute stanza.

WP will host the Sharks in next weekend's final after the KwaZulu-Natal side beat the Golden Lions 33-24 in Durban to book their place in the 2018 decider.

Scorers:

Western Province

Tries: SP Marais, Paul de Wet

Conversions: Marais (2)

Penalties: Marais (7)

Blue Bulls

Tries: Ruan Steenkamp, Duncan Matthews, Manie Libbok, Dylan Sage

Conversions: Libbok (3)

Penalties: Libbok (2)

Teams:

Western Province 

15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 SP Marais, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Kobus van Dyk, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ali Vermaak

Substitutes: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Michael Kumbirai, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Josh Stander, 23 JJ Engelbrecht

Blue Bulls

15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Dylan Sage, 12 Johnny Kotze, 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Marco van Staden, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Hendre Stassen, 3 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Trevor Nyakane