Western Province will join the Sharks in the Currie Cup final after they produced an awesome defensive and forward display to beat the defending champions Golden Lions 19-5 at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.
Province flyhalf Robert du Preez contributed 14 points from the kicking tee, while tighthead prop Wilco Louw capped off an awesome scrumming performance with a try in the first half.
The Lions could only manage a single try though flyhalf Jaco van der Walt in the opening minutes after WP lock JD Schickerling was sent to the sin bin for deliberately collapsing a driving maul.
Province had initially taken the lead after a Du Preez penalty and had plenty of ball in first half, but a host of errors saw them squander quite a few scoring chances. The Lions had the same problem when they had the ball, and the match turned into a bit of a stop-start affair.
WP, though, managed to score their first try of the match shortly before halftime -- which Du Preez converted -- to take a 13-5 lead into the halftime break.
WP's defence was awesome in the second half, while their pack continued to dominate at scrum time. The Lions just couldn't get their momentum game going, and forced a lot of their passes which led to handling errors.
Du Preez then kicked two more penalties in the second half to earn WP a place in the final.
The final will be played at Kings Park in Durban at 16:00 (CAT) next Saturday.