Newlands will play host to the Currie Cup final this coming weekend.
This after Western Province had to come from behind to beat the Blue Bulls 35-32 in a match that was forced into extra time after the two teams ended 80 minutes level at 32-all.
The Bulls scored a try on the final whistle through Blitzbok Dylan Sage, with Manie Libbok lining up a conversion from the right touchline to win it.
With strong winds in Cape Town, Libbok’s effort was blown wide and WP had another crack at booking a home final against the Sharks.
The two teams were ultimately separated by a SP Marais penalty in extra time.
Marais won the Man of the Match award after contributing 30 points to WP’s grand total – including a try.
After thumping the Bulls 34-7 in a rain-interrupted match in Pretoria the week before, it was expected that Province would run wild again.
However, a different Bulls team took the field for the Newlands knockout.
After two early Marais penalties, the Bulls first took the lead in the 23rd minute when Ruan Steenkamp barged over for the first of their two four tries.
At 7-6 in the 28th minute, Bulls fullback Divan Rossouw collected a Damian Willemse kick to start a counter-attack that saw the No.15 stab through a grubber kick for Manie Libbok to collect and offload on the inside to wing Duncan Matthews for the Bulls’ second five-pointer 14-6.
Marais’ kicking boot kept Province in the game as the two teams entered the break at 17-15 in favour of the Bulls.
Six minutes after the restart, the Bulls set up an attacking maul from which Libbok snapped up an offload to make it 24-15.
Newlands was stunned into silence as they braced for what would have been the upset of the season.
WP’s players then had to dig deep to get back into the game and it was through none other than Marais who got their first touchdown of the game five minutes later.
With Province battling to get their outside backs in the game, fullback Dillyn Leyds joined the line wide on the left before unleashing Marais (24-22).
After a Libbok penalty extended the Bulls’ lead, the visitors again had a chance to open up a two-score buffer.
With the perfect attacking lineout on the WP 22, hooker Jaco Visagie missed his jumpers and Scarra Ntubeni collected the loose ball.
The hooker passed it to Willemse, who hoofed it downfield.
Wing Sergeal Petersen gave chase and snatched the ball in front of the Bulls defender before being stopped centimetres from the tryline.
Ntubeni did well to get to the scrumhalf position first and pop the ball to replacement No.9 Paul de Wet for WP’s second try (29-27).
Another Marais penalty kick set up a thrilling finale.
The Bulls hunted the match-winning score and took the ball through more than 20 phases before WP won a scrum.
Having run out of subs, Petersen acted as scrumhalf on the WP feed and his ball was turned over by Embrose Papier.
The Bulls took the ball wide for Sage to dot down in the corner and tie it up after 80 minutes.
Marais then added the only points in extra time as WP fans left Newlands relieved, knowing they can come back to the venue for the final against the Sharks next weekend.
Western Province – Tries:
SP Marais and Paul de Wet; Conversions: Marais (2); Penalties: Marais (7).
Blue Bulls – Tries:
Ruan Steenkamp, Duncan Matthews, Manie Libbok and Dylan Sage; Conversions: Libbok (3); Penalties: Libbok (2).