Griquas hold off Pumas in Kimberley
CURRIE CUP REPORT: Griquas made it two wins from two matches when they beat the Pumas 37-29 in a thrilling Currie Cup encounter in Kimberley on Friday.
The home side outscored their opponents by five tries to four with fullback Anthony Volmink scoring two tries. The bonus point means that the Kimberley side sits at the top of the standings with a maximum 10 points.
Griquas dominated possession in the opening minutes and they opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Volmink crashed through the Pumas’ defence near halfway with speed to sprint downfield to score a brilliant try.
George Whitehead added the extra two points with the conversion.
The visitors struggled to get into the game, and they were further behind in the 19th minute when Whitehead converted a penalty into three points.
The Pumas needed to be the next score and they did just that with Morné Joubert going over for a try after some scrappy play inside the Griquas’ half. Kobus Marais was unsuccessful with the conversion.
At half-time the score was 10-5 in favour of the Griquas.
It was the home side who made the perfect start in the second half when wing Eduan Keyter ran onto a perfectly timed pass in the Pumas’ 22 for his team’s second try in the 44th minute. Whitehead was successful with the conversion once again.
However, it did not take long for the Pumas to hit back with prop Andrew Beerwinkel crashing over the tryline from close range in the 46th minute. Marais added the extra two points to reduce the deficit to five points once again.
The see-saw nature of the match continued after that with Griquas prop Ewald van der Westhuizen showing his power to drive over the tryline in the 50th minute. This time Whitehead was unsuccessful with the conversion.
The Pumas kept in touch with a penalty from Marais in the 60th minute. However, that penalty was cancelled out three minutes later when Griquas scrumhalf Zak Burger put centre Andre Swarts into space to run in for an easy try.
Every time you thought Griquas was going to run away with it, the Pumas it back and they did again in the 65th minute with captain and centre Ryan Nell finished off some enterprising play to score his team’s third try.
Marais added the extras with the conversion and the Pumas were once again just five points behind with just 15 minutes left on the clock.
The Pumas fightback was completed in the 70th minute when replacement Morgan Naude stretched over the tryline from close range after sustained pressure inside the Griquas’ 22.
Replacement Chris Smith was successful with the conversion to level things up.
Griquas regained the lead in the 75th minute with a Tinus de Beer three-pointer.
The game was then put to bed in the 78th minute when Volmink completed his double after running 60 metres downfield to score a fantastic breakout try.
Man of the match: Sias Koen was outstanding with ball in hand and he got his team over the advantage line on numerous occasions.
The scorers:
For Griquas:
Tries: Volmink 2, Keyter, van der Westhuizen, Swarts
Cons: Whitehead 3
Pens: Whitehead, De Beer
For Pumas:
Tries: Joubert, Beerwinkel, Nell, Naude
Cons: Marais 2, Smith
Pen: Marais
Teams:
Griquas: 15 Anthony Volmink, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Michal Haznar, 12 Andre Swarts, 11 Eduan Keyter, 10 George Whitehead (captain), 9 Zak Burger, 8 Neill Jordaan, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Ian Groenewald, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 AJ Le Roux, 1 Khwezi Mona.
Replacements: 16 Wilmar Arnoldi, 17 Mox Mxoli, 18 Johan Momson, 19 Zandre Jordaan, 20 Chriswill September, 21 Tinus de Beer, 22 Bjorn Basson, 23 Ruan Kramer.
Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Morné Joubert, 13 Ryan Nell (captain), 12 Henko Marais, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Kobus Marais, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Carel du Preez, 6 Jeandré Rudolph, 5 Stefan Willemse, 4 Le Roux Roets, 3 Marné Coetzee, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 1 Andrew Beerwinkel.
Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Hilton Lobberts, 19 Phumzile Maqondwana, 20 Ashlon Davids, 21 Chris Smith, 22 Alwayno Visagie, 23 Morgan Naude.
Referee: AJ Jacobs
Assistant referees: Ben Crouse, Johre Botha
TMO: Lourens van der Merwe
