The heavens opened up at Loftus on Saturday as Western Province beat the Blue Bulls 34-7 in a 40-minute match.
With rain bucketing down in Pretoria, the kickoff to the match was postponed by 30 minutes.
Weather conditions didn’t improve as the game gained momentum and referee Egon Seconds ultimately called off the encounter at halftime.
While the scoreboard read 34-7 in favour of WP, who had scored four tries for a bonus-point win, the Bulls players were probably happier not to return for the second half.
The hosts simply didn’t pitch up in the encounter as they were dominated by Province in all facets of the game throughout the 40 minutes.
WP drew first blood after their pack bulldozed the Bulls on their own feed in a scrum five metres from their tryline.
SP Marais then kicked the penalty to make it 3-0 in the seventh minute.
DANGEROUS: Herschel Jantjies. Photo: BACKPAGEPIX
With Bulls loosehead Matthys Basson sent to the cooler for a scrum infringement, WP again dominated a Bulls front-row shove in the red zone and this time Seconds gave WP a penalty try (10-0).
The ill-disciplined Bulls again conceded a penalty in the 19th minute, as WP raced into a 13-0 lead.
Then the Bulls got their only points of the game in the 24th minute, after taking the ball through seven phases, with Ruan Steenkamp crashing over (13-7).
CAUTION, SLIPPERY CONDITIONS: The Blue Bulls never pitched up. Photo: BACKPAGEPIX
With 10 minutes left before halftime - that would turn out to be fulltime - Province went in search of a bonus point win.
Flanker Kobus van Dyk got their second five-pointer after some good work by the pack, before Sergeal Petersen chased down a Herschel Jantjies grubber from a loose ball to score their third.
Province climaxed one minute from time when Jaco Coetzee broke free from a maul to run in their fourth try to end what was a wet dream for WP and a nightmare for the Bulls.