Griquas outplay WP in Kimberley
CURRIE CUP REPORT: Griquas have completed the double over Western Province in the Currie Cup after a 46-25 win in Round 13 in Kimberley on Sunday.
Scott Mathie’s men, playing in pink, outscored the Capetonians by six tries to three to finish the penultimate round of the regular season in third position, where Western Province had started the weekend.
It was a show of force by Griquas, who outmuscled John Dobson’s charges everywhere but in the scrums. They dominated the gain line battle and made several smashing hits to send Western Province crashing to fifth place.
They also beat the Capetonians earlier in the tournament at Cape Town Stadium. The scoreline that day was 30-28.
Three unanswered tries just before and after half-time saw the home team pull away and Western Province, who made life hard for themselves – particularly at restarts – couldn’t recover.
Western Province flyhalf Tim Swiel opened the scoring with a penalty goal in the third minute after Griquas were pinged for obstruction.
His opposite number, George Whitehead, levelled the scores three minutes later after the visitors failed to roll away at a ruck. A powerful scrum saw Western Province turn down a kick at goal as they chased the opening try, however, the hosts were able to halt the driving maul and work a turnover.
An audacious offload by Eduan Keyter, one of the stars of the season, created the first try-scoring opportunity for Griquas, but a crucial pass didn’t go to hand. Having had a penalty advantage, they’d get their try from the ensuing line-out, Man of the Match Gideon van der Merwe shooting out of the maul like an arrow out of a bow to score, with Whitehead adding the conversion.
The fluid attack of the visitors led to four penalties in the red zone in rapid succession. James Verity-Amm was the last to infringe, going offside, which earned him a yellow card. Western Province opted for a scrum and exploited their numerical advantage out wide to tie things up, with Swiel sending Sergeal Petersen in with an excellent long pass.
They switched off at the restart, though, gifting Griquas an opportunity to hit back. They not only did, through Hanru Sirgel, but also saw the playing field being levelled as Paul de Wet, a last-minute replacement for Godlen Masimla in the No.9 jersey, was yellow-carded for not rolling away.
Western Province adapted well to losing De Wet, Edwill van der Merwe and Warrick Gelant assuming the role in a sweeping movement that resulted in a try for Ruhan Nel. Swiel couldn’t add to conversion, thus, the Peacock Blues held onto a 17-15 lead.
It would be Gelant who covered scrumhalf and the Springbok fullback produced an impressive cameo, complete with a textbook box kick that pinned Griquas in their 22. Western Province got reward for it as well as, as a penalty for holding on saw Swiel edge them in front.
However, another botched restart eventually saw them relinquish the lead as Ruan Steenkamp was held up before Adré Smith powered over for a seven-pointer under the posts to put Griquas up 24-18 at half-time.
A comedy of errors by the men in the hooped jerseys from the kick-off gifted the hosts a five-metre scrum, from where Steenkamp scored the bonus-point try following a few pick and goes. Whitehead’s conversion made it 31-18 after 42 minutes.
The power play of the men in pink set the table for another try finished by Verity-Amm out wide and even though Whitehead was unsuccessful with the conversion, Western Province were left with a mountain to climb, trailing 36-18 with 30 minutes remaining.
Western Province’s attempted rescue mission was hampered by mistakes at crucial times, but a converted try by replacement Neethling Fouché in the 64th minute gave them a sniff. A soft penalty killed those hopes as Whitehead stretched the lead to 14 before Amm scored his second to seal an emphatic victory for Griquas.
Man of the match: Griquas’ loose forwards were outstanding. Ruan Steenkamp was a hard man to bring down and he scored one of his team’s six tries. However, the award goes to his back row partner Gideon van der Merwe, who played out of his skin. He also scored a try and he was excellent at the breakdowns as well.
The scorers:
For Griquas:
Tries: Van der Merwe, Sirgel, Smith, Steenkamp, Verity-Amm 2
Cons: Whitehead 5
Pens: Whitehead 2
For Western Province:
Tries: Petersen, Nel, Fouche
Con: Swiel 2
Pens: Swiel 2
Yellow cards: James Verity-Amm (Griquas, 24 – repeated infringements); Paul de Wet (WP, 28 – cynical play, not rolling away)
Teams:
Griquas: 15 Ashlon Davids, 14 James Verity-Amm, 13 Chris Hollis, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 Eduan Keyter, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Ruan Steenkamp (captain), 7 Hanru Sirgel, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Stefan Willemse, 4 Adré Smith, 3 Erich de Jager, 2 Alandré van Rooyen, 1 Nqobisizwe Mxoli.
Replacements: 16 Janco Uys, 17 Andrew Beerwinkel, 18 Janu Botha, 19 Cameron Lindsey, 20 Johan Momsen, 21 Raegan Oranje, 22 Tinus de Beer, 23 Ederies Arendse.
Western Province: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 David Meihuizen, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Simon Miller, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Deon Fourie, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Tristan Leyds.
Referee: Stuart Berry
Assistant referees: Local appointments
TMO: Griffin Colby
Source: SA Rugby
