Last gasp Griquas down Pumas
A last-minute try by Marnus Schoeman saw Griquas claim a 21-19 victory over the Pumas in Kimberley on Friday.
It was the Pumas' first defeat of the season, after they got through the First Division competition unbeaten.
The hosts can breathe a sigh of relief, as they struggled throughout whole game to assert their dominance.
They now travel to Nelspruit with four log points in the bag and a very real chance of retaining their Currie Cup status for 2014.
The Pumas started the better of the two sides and put the hosts under pressure early on. That allowed visiting flyhalf Carl Bezuidenhout to settle things down with a penalty in the 3rd minute.
Griquas kept on infringing in the opening minutes and Bezuidenhout got another chance at goal to stretch the Pumas lead to six points in the first ten minutes.
Griquas regrouped and started to play good running rugby, but the Pumas defence held fast.
The Pumas scored again in the 22nd minute when centre Wilmaure Louw pounced on a loose ball resulting from a good Pumas scrum. Bezuidenhout converted to give the visitors a 13 point lead.
Griquas were their own worst enemy in the first half, squandering chances by either conceding penalties on their own attacking mauls or by making unforced errors. They did most of the playing in the first stanza, but had nothing to show for it half time with the score 13-0 in the visitors favour.
The Pumas started at a steady pace in the second half, but again it was Griquas that played better rugby.
They finally got on the score board in the 56th minute after replacement loose forward Carel Greeff scored in the corner.
Fullback Gouws Prinsloo converted to bring his side within seven points with 24 minutes remaining. Centre Jean Stemmet also dotted down to give the hosts the lead by a single point.
Griquas attacked with renewed prowess, but they kept on infringing and Bezuidenhout answered in kind to again stretch the lead to five points with six minutes remaining.
But it was Schoeman who had the last say for Griquas, scoring from a driving maul on the final whistle with Prinsloo converting for the victory.
The scorers:
For Griquas:
Tries: Greeff, Stemmet, Schoeman
Cons: Prinsloo 3
For the Pumas:
Try: Louw
Con: Bezuidenhout
Pens: Bezuidenhout 2, Roos 2
Teams
Griquas: 15 Gouws Prinsloo, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 Jean Stemmet, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Rocco Jansen, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Burger Schoeman, 7 RJ Liebenberg, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Jaco Nepgen, 4 Rynhardt Landman, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes (captain), 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dobson, 17 Janro van Niekerk, 18 Patrick O'Brien, 19 Carel Greeff, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 JP Nel, 22 Nico Scheepers.
Pumas: 15 Coenie van Wyk, 14 JW Bell, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Rosco Speck man, 10 Carl Bezuidenhout, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 RW Kember, 7 Renaldo Bothma, 6 Corne Steenkamp (captain), 5 Eduan Van Der Walt, 4 Rudi Matthee, 3 Ivann Espag, 2 Frank Herne, 1 Corné Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Francois du Toit, 17 Vincent Koch, 18 De-Jay Terblanche, 19 Lubabalo Mtyanda, 20, Uzair Cassiem, 21 JC Roos, 22 Dewald Pretorius.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Lourens van der Merwe, Francois de Bruin
TMO: Johan Greeff
