KwaZulu-Natal and Western Province produced an absolute thriller to close off the opening day of the Coca-Cola Craven Week in Stellenbosch on Monday.
Province scored two tries in the last two minutes to draw even and then win 29-22, after they were trailing 17-0 five minutes into the second half.
The opening period was all KZN. Their forwards were impeccable in the scrums and lineouts, and their backs used the ball that came their way well. Fullback Patrick Lambie was probably the player of the first day. He joined the line with perfect timing and scored one try, and set up another - and his goalkicking was spot-on. He was ably assisted by the Cronje twins, scrumhalf Ross and flyhalf Guy, while the KwaZulu-Natal loose forwards Grenville Easthorpe, Bryan Stander and Carl Marks ruled the roost in the first half.
It took Western Province until the fifth minute of the second half to get on the scoreboard and their first try, by speedy right winger Tythan Adams, came halfway through the half.
From then on, however, it was all Province. Their highly rated eighthman and captain, Nick Koster, began to show up and centre Danie Poolman made some sniping breaks.
The first of these led to a try at the posts by winger Julian Karolus, converted by Jurgen Visser to put them within seven points, and he crossed over himself for the second, which saw the teams draw level.
Visser then missed a kickable penalty and just when it seemed as if it was going end in a draw, Province launched one last attack, rounded off by the impressive Yaasir Hartzenberg to send the big crowd home.
The Golden Lions got their Coca-Cola Craven Week off on a winning note by beating Boland 24-15 in a hard-fought game. However, they were not convincing, giving away far too many penalties and making too many handling mistakes, and the pacey Boland backs did well to feed off their errors.
In the end it was two tries each, with the goalkicking of Lions flyhalf Justin Botha kicking three penalties, and dropped a goal, keeping the Lions ahead throughout the game.
For the Lions, lock Shane Kirkwood had a storming game, while the tackling of centre Winston Williams saved them on more than one occasion. Boland's reserve scrumhalf, Frederick Muller, got both their tries, and his broken-play running caused the Lions plenty of problems. Louw Heunis converted on try and added a penalty for Boland.
In the opening game of the day, the Northern Free State Griffons beat highly rated Eastern Province 29-17. The SWD Young Eagles turned on the style to overwhelm the Leopards 27-5 in the second game after the scores were 12-5 halfway through the half, and it looked like the Leopards might pull off an upset.
Today's Fixtures: 10.10am Border CD v Zimbabwe, 11.30am Namibia v Limpopo, 12.50pm Falcons v Griquas, 2.10pm Border v Pumas, 3.30pm Blue Bulls v Free State.