Griquas' second-half surge stuns Sharks

MATCH REPORT: Griquas fought back from a 7-24  half-time deficit to clinch a dramatic 34-31 Currie Cup victory against the Sharks in Kimberley.

The Sharks had a great start in the first half much due to some ill-discipline by Griquas.

The Durbanites started fast with a maul try by Daniel Jooste in the second minute after Stephan Smith conceded a penalty to gift the visitors the attacking line-out.

The Sharks scored their second try soon after a powerful build-up – with Esterhuizen showing quick hands to send Muller du Plessis away to take a 10-0 lead with both conversions missed by Lionel Cronjé.

Griquas attacked soon after but then the ball got turned over by the Sharks which led to captain Nick Hatton’s try which Cronjé converted in the 20th minute for a 17-0 lead.

Griquas had a line-out maul inside the Sharks 22 in the 27th minute which was collapsed illegally by captain Nick Hatton who was yellow carded.

The try came in the 30th minute through Hanru Sirgel to get the home side on the board which Dobela converted after a maul and three phases of play.

Fullback Cameron Hufke had the ultimate coach-killer when he knocked on a pass he received from Thomas Bursey off the restart which led to the Sharks’ bonus point try off the scrum when Davids took it out, played it to Esterhuizen who combined with fellow Springbok Aphelele Fassi who ran a beautiful inside line to go over for a 24-7 lead.

The Sharks had one more opportunity to score before half-time but Griquas turned it over and played the clock dead to head into half-time.

The second half saw a rejuvenated Griquas side when former BlitzBok Sako Makata stole the show.

Griquas had many scoring opportunities in the first 20 minutes of the second half which they didn’t capitalise on – but the breakthrough eventually came after Makata made a strong run on the wing – breaking two tackles before offloading to Hufke to get the hosts’ second try and get back within 10 points.

The Sharks seemed to have struck back with a try of their own but a knock-on just outside their own 22-metre area saw it being disallowed with Griquas earning the scrum feed.

Griquas attacked inside the Sharks’ 22 and had a penalty under the posts – but rolled the dice to kick for the corner and it paid off when replacement prop Dlamini went over for their third.

The Sharks’ line-out malfunctioned on a few occasions and turned out to be costly when they had an attacking line-out stolen and Griquas attacked from deep with Dobela giving it to Xamlashe who passed it to Hufke before he straightened and gave it to Titus that passed back to Xamlashe for a 70-metre try – taking the lead for the first time in the match.

Another attacking Sharks line-out was stolen which led to a penalty conceded by the Sharks.

Dobela set the line-out inside the Sharks’ 22 which led to Du Rand breaking away to dot down in the 72nd minute.

Dobela was timed out with the shot clock and it seemed that because of that mistake – the match would end in a draw as former Griqua Eduan Keyter went over for the Sharks to level the score at 31-31.

Griquas had one more attacking line-out outside the Sharks’ 22 but it was overthrown and claimed by Mona as the Sharks went on the attack but then ended up losing the ball short of halfway.

Griquas had the scrum feed and won the penalty.

Dobela made up for his timeout error and slotted the winning points with seconds to spare for a restart.

The restart was handled sloppy by Griquas but eventually, the ball landed in the hands of replacement Bobby Alexander who kicked it into touch for a dramatic win!

Scorers:

For Griquas:
Tries: Sirgel, Hufke, Dlamini, Xamlashe, Du Rand
Cons: Dobela 3
Pen: Dobela

For the Sharks:
Tries: Jooste, Du Plessis, Hatton, Fassi, Keyter
Cons: Cronjé 3

Teams:

Griquas: 15 Cameron Hufke, 14 Marcqiewn Titus, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 11 Sako Makata, 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Thomas Bursey, 8 Hanru Sirgel, 7 Marco de Witt, 6 Stephan Smit (captain), 5 Albert Liebenberg, 4 Athenkosi Khetani, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Janco Uys, 1 Leon Lyons.
Replacements: 16 Gustav du Rand, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Cebo Dlamini, 19 Dylan Sjoblom, 20 Derik Pretorius, 21 Carl Els, 22 Bobby Alexander, 23 Zinedine Robinson

Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Muller du Plessis, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Nick Hatton (captain), 7 Phepsi Buthelezi, 6 Tino Mavesere, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Coetzee le Roux, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Daniel Jooste, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Abraham Reynecke, 18 Khwezi Mona, 19 Reinier Viljoen, 20 Jannes Potgieter, 21 Tiaan Fourie, 22 Murray Koster, 23 Eduan Keyter/Jaco Williams.

Referee: Christopher Allison
TMO: Ben Crouse