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Province fight back to win Currie Cup

Western Province centre Huw Jones

Huw Jones signed off in style with a double as Western Province blew the Sharks away in the second half to win the Currie Cup with a 33-21 victory in a thriller at Kings Park on Saturday.

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The Sharks finished the regular season 10 points clear of Province at the top of the table, but John Dobson’s men scored 23 points without reply to win the title for a 34th time and silence the Durban crowd.

Veteran wing Odwa Ndungane put the Sharks in front with an early try in the last game of his career, but Scotland centre Jones went under the posts at the other end in his final appearance for Province before linking up with Glasgow Warriors.

Dan du Preez went over for a second Sharks try between a couple of penalties from Curwin Bosch, who also landed a drop-goal, but Dillyn Leyds went over just before half-time after Province put together phase after phase to reduce the deficit to 21-15.

Province took their game to another level after the break, Cobus Wiese cutting the gap to just a point by crossing after great work from Nizaam Carr and Jones put his side in front for the first time after taking an offload from Seabelo Senatla to score his second try just three minutes later.

Robert du Preez collected the extras and added two penalties, the second resulting in his brother Dan being shown a yellow card, as Province ended their three-year wait for yet another Currie Cup title.

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GrahamVF 1 hour ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

"has SA actually EVER helped to develop another union to maturity like NZ has with Japan," yes - Argentina. You obviously don't know the history of Argentinian rugby. SA were touring there on long development tours in the 1950's

We continued the Junior Bok tours to the Argentine through to the early 70's

My coach at Grey High was Giepie Wentzel who toured Argentine as a fly half. He told me about how every Argentinian rugby club has pictures of Van Heerden and Danie Craven on prominent display. Yes we have developed a nation far more than NZ has done for Japan. And BTW Sa players were playing and coaching in Japan long before the Kiwis arrived. Fourie du Preez and many others were playing there 15 years ago.


"Isaac Van Heerden's reputation as an innovative coach had spread to Argentina, and he was invited to Buenos Aires to help the Pumas prepare for their first visit to South Africa in 1965.[1][2] Despite Argentina faring badly in this tour,[2] it was the start of a long and happy relationship between Van Heerden and the Pumas. Izak van Heerden took leave from his teaching post in Durban, relocated to Argentina, learnt fluent Spanish, and would revolutionise Argentine play in the late 1960s, laying the way open for great players such as Hugo Porta.[1][2] Van Heerden virtually invented the "tight loose" form of play, an area in which the Argentines would come to excel, and which would become a hallmark of their playing style. The Pumas repaid the initial debt, by beating the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park, and emerged as one of the better modern rugby nations, thanks largely to the talents of this Durban schoolmaster.[1]"


After the promise made by Junior Springbok manager JF Louw at the end of a 12-game tour to Argentina in 1959 – ‘I will do everything to ensure we invite you to tour our country’ – there were concerns about the strength of Argentinian rugby. South African Rugby Board president Danie Craven sent coach Izak van Heerden to help the Pumas prepare and they repaid the favour by beating the Junior Springboks at Ellis Park.

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