The crowd alternated chants of "M-V-P" and "Let's go Islanders" as the home team trudged off the bench and lined up for the traditional post-series handshake line.
The province was also the home of the Bolebedu, a small tribe but with a rather impressive leader, Queen Modjadji V, the only female tribal leader in southern Africa, and perhaps the only one in the world with a reputation as a rainmaker.