Western Province failed to give Newlands a winning send-off, going down 19-9 to the Sharks in the Currie Cup semifinal on Saturday.
Full-time at DHL Newlands where DHL WP fought hard, but have gone down 19-9 against the Cell C Sharks in their Carling Currie Cup semifinal.
— WP RUGBY (@WP_RUGBY) January 23, 2021
Knowing that it would be the final match at the stadium before moving to Cape Town Stadium ahead of kickoff after the Bulls had beaten the Lions to a place in the final, WP simply “didn’t deliver” according to captain Siya Kolisi.
With Curwin Bosch punishing their ill-discipline with three penalty goals and also a drop goal, JJ van der Mescht scored the only try of the match as WP failed to get their game going.
Of losing the last match at the second-oldest stadium in the world, Kolisi says: “It’s a horrible feeling – with the build-up we’ve had this week and to come out like that with the discipline we had, we only have ourselves to blame for that.
“The biggest thing is the discipline and the breakdown in the first half – they really dominated that part of the game.
“We couldn’t get going…”
He adds: “It’s the worst feeling ever – the way it happened makes it worse. We worked hard and came prepared but we didn’t deliver when it mattered most.”
With the Lions and the Bulls now contesting the final at Loftus next week, it’s back to the drawing board for coach John Dobson.
Of the defeat, Dobson says: “It’s more than disappointment I’m afraid – it’s more like devastation.
“It was such an important game for us, and I think we let ourselves down in that second half a lot.”