JOHANNESBURG - Hosts Eastern Province and KwaZulu-Natal produced scintillating rugby on Monday in beating the Valke 41-17 and Free State 48-24.

The Bulls and Western Province had their work cut out to match these exploits, and they promptly delivered in a high-tempo game in which 10 tries were scored.

There were also wins on Tuesday for Zimbabwe, Eastern Province Country Districts, South Western District and the Pumas.

In the main match, Western Province, who have played in the tournament’s unofficial final for the past three years, got off to the best possible start when eighthman Petrus Bothma crashed over in the third minute.

South Africa Under-20 Junior World Cup-winning flyhalf Handre Pollard kicked the conversion, but soon after, loosehead prop Pierre Schoeman barged over from a tapped penalty 5m from the Western Province line.

Flyhalf Ryno Eksteen made it 7-7, but Pollard kicked a 14th-minute penalty to put Western Province in the lead once again.

The Cape boys increased their lead to 10 soon after, when fullback Jason Worrall scooted through for Pollard to convert from the touchline.

The Bulls were equal to the task, with centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg muscling his way over for a converted try to cut the deficit to 14-17, which soon became 21-17 to the boys from Pretoria when Marcus Kleinbooi went over from a sweeping attack.

The sides continued their tit-for-tat scoring, Western Province hooker Chad Solomon and Bulls prop Dayan van der Westhuizen going over before Pollard nailed a 34th-minute penalty to give his side a one-point lead at the break.

After the deluge of points in the opening period, there was a lull until 21 minutes into the second half, when 21 points in a matter of five minutes were scored.

No sooner had Eksteen converted than fullback Jaco Hayward dotted down on the hour to make it 40-27, followed a minute later by a second try to Kleinbooi to put the result beyond doubt.