Blue Bulls centre JP Nel notched a hat-trick of tries on Saturday as his side crushed old rivals Western Province 41-10 in a one-sided Vodacom Cup match at Newlands.

The Bulls are the only team with two wins out of two in the 2001 tournament, before Sunday's match between Boland and Natal. After five tries against the Eagles last week, the Bulls went two better this time.

Although the Bulls only led 5-3 at half-time, the visitors always looked the better side by some distance thanks to their slick midfield, where Nel and full-back David Manuel were the star performers. At the same time it will go down as one of the most mediocre performances by a Western Province side in recent years, lacking in skill and commitment.

The home side's lineouts were particularly poor through a combination of dreadful throwing by hooker Johan van Wyk and lack of communication. Kicking on both sides also left a lot to be desired, with WP fly-half Yazeed Manual and Bulls counterpart Jacques Schutte both missing kicks they would easily slot on the practice field.

It was thus left to the Bulls' backs to provide the little bit of entertainment there was, and their first two tries - to Nel and flanker Piet Joubert - came as a result of fullback Manuel drawing a defender. After Joubert's try, the Bulls scored straight from the kick-off and it was left wing Hannes Venter who ran in for the try in the 51st minute.

Then, shortly afterwards, the Bulls had the small travelling contingent in the crowd on their feet as several players handled in the move that resulted in Nel's second try. His hat-trick came in the 72nd minute after another slick backline move, while there were also tries for centre Tiaan Joubert and right wing Rayno Hendricks as the Bulls finished with a flourish.

Western Province seldom had any cohesion at the back and their solitary try came from centre Jean de Villiers. Even that move had a strong suspicion of a forward pass, but it hardly mattered.

Western Province - Try: Jean de Villiers; Con: Brent Russell; Drop: Yazeed Manual.

Blue Bulls - Tries: JP Nel 3, Piet Joubert, Hannes Venter, Tiaan Joubert, Rayno Hendricks; Cons: Jacques Schutte 2, Nel