Griquas add to Lions' dismal season
REPORT: Griquas bounced back with a comfortable 49-17 win over the Lions in Kimberley on Wednesday.
Coming from a humiliating defeat the Bulls, the Griquas return to winning ways, scoring seven tries for the bonus-point victory over the bottom dwellers the Lions.
*To recap all the drama CLICK HERE!!!
Pieter Bergh’s charges turned Griquas Park into a slow cooker, dominating territory and possession and sapping the energy out of the visitors in the first half to lead 14-3.
The Peacock Blues’ place-kickers enjoyed a perfect outing, Zander du Plessis adding five conversions and replacement Ashlon Davids slotting the final two to cap off a dominant display in the Diamond City.
The mass changes Mzwakhe Nkosi made to his Lions team provided fresh energy, with Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok prop Jannie du Plessis adding invaluable experience and direction in his new captaincy role.
The visitors fought valiantly but a brutal second quarter, in which they were forced to defend in their 22 for the most part, and a missed opportunity to capitalise when the hosts were down to 14 men, sucked the life out of them.
The Lions fired the first shot by winning a dominant scrum penalty, which they used to set up an attacking lineout. The hosts held firm but not without conceding a penalty, which James Tedder popped over in the sixth minute.
Griquas made their intentions clear as they turned down two kickable penalties and while they applied good pressure, they came out of the red zone empty-handed after Mzwanele Zito was held up over the line.
They’d get the opening try, though, thanks to a brilliant break by hot-stepping Rynhardt Jonker, who fed Munier Hartzenberg, with the flyer finishing well in the corner in the 16th minute.
Having found their rhythm, the home team increased the tempo and were in for all money, however, Janru Sirgel spilled the pill with the try line at his mercy. The flank would get his try in the second half.
Their disappointment doubled moments later when a potential try could not be awarded as it was inconclusive whether a burrowing Janu Botha had grounded the ball in the sea of bodies.
With four minutes to go before half-time, they finally got more reward for their territorial dominance as scrumhalf Johan Mulder dove over under the posts for a seven-pointer.
A yellow card to towering lock Derik Pretorius for a high tackle on Manuel Rass gave the Sigma Lions a golden opportunity to score at a crucial time, but Griquas’ composure and commitment saw them hold up
Ruan Venter over the line to head into the break with their 11-point lead intact.
The Lions’ inability to field the kick-off after the interval not only allowed the 14-man hosts to eat up time with ball-in-hand but saw impressive outside centre Sango Xamlashe power over for their third try to ‘win’ the 10-minute period without Pretorius.
That proved to be the blow that took the stuffing out of the visitors who went on to leak four more tries, Kudzwai Dude, Zito and Jonker all cashing in for the Peacock Blues, while James Mollentze and Divan Rossouw scored consolation tries for the Lions.
Man of the match: There were loads of standout performers in the Griquas set-up. However our nod goes to Griquas flank Janru Sirgel, who was an absolute workhorse, he dominated the breakdown and scored a try for the winning team.
The scorers:
For Griquas:
Tries: Hartzenberg, Mulder, Xamlashe, Dube, Zito, Jonker, Sirgel
Cons: Du Plessis 5, Davids 2
For Lions:
Tries: Mollentze, Rosssouw
Cons: Tedder 2
Pens: Tedder,
Yellow card: Derik Pretorius (Griquas, 38 – Dangerous high tackle)
Teams
Griquas: 15 Rynhardt Jonker, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Zander du Plessis, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Theo Boshoff, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Siba Qoma, 7 Janru Sirgel, 6 Niel Otto (captain), 5 Derik Pretorius, 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Simon Westraadt, 1 Eddie Davids.
Replacements: 16 Janco Uys, 17 Kudzwai Dude, 18 Andries Schutte, 19 Luyolo Dapula, 20 Michael Amiras, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Ashlon Davids, 23 Prince Nkabinde.
Lions: 15 EW Viljoen, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Matt More, 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 James Tedder, 9 Ginter Smuts, 8 Emanuel Tshituka, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Simon Dionisio, 4 Lunga Ncube, 3 Jannie du Plessis (captain), 2 Morne Brandon, 1 Jean-Pierre Smith.
Replacements: 16 Jacque-Louis du Toit, 17 Okuhle Siyeni, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 MJ Pelser, 20 Mark Snyman, 21 Jurich Claasens, 22 Luke Rossouw, 23 James Mollentze.
Referee: Griffin Colby
Assistant referees: Ashleigh Murray-Pretorius, Local
TMO: Ben Crouse
