Province maul hapless Griquas
CURRIE CUP MATCH REPORT: Western Province moved to second place on the standings, at least for the next 24 hours.
They beat Griquas comfortably, 34-17, on a warm, sunny day at Newlands on Saturday.
The first-ever Boxing Day Currie Cup match had some entertaining moments, but not the massive fireworks expected.
WP, with their scrums and mauls the point of difference, laid the platform for victory up front.
A string of scrum and maul penalties had the visitors on the back foot from the outset.
Griquas ended up conceding three maul tries, which turned out to be the difference on the scoreboard as well.
* As it happened. To recap all the drama, CLICK HERE!
Province dominated from the outset and a couple of early penalties allowed them to set up some mauls close to the Griquas line. In their second attempt hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi made the best of his armchair ride to get the first try. Tim Swiel added the conversion – 7-0 inside 10 minutes.
On the 15-minute mark, after a breakdown penalty, Swiel made it 10-0 with a successful penalty.
In the 24th minute, Dan du Plessis went over for a try and despite a TMO review – which showed obvious evidence of a forwards pass – Joey Klaaste-Salmans could not see any ‘clear evidence’ of a forward pass. Needless to say the Griquas player and all neutral observers were flabbergasted. Swiel added the conversion – 17-0.
Griquas finally got their hands on some possession and two quick penalties allowed the visitors a line-out five metres out from the WP line. However, they fluffed a rare opportunity with a knock-on.
Just past the half-hour Griquas finally opened their account – captain Zak Burger sniping around a ruck, offloading to fullback James Verity-Amm, who in turned putting wing Eduan Keyter away. Flyhalf Tinus de Beer added the conversion – 7-17.
That’s how it stayed to half-time.
Inside two minutes from the restart, De Beer narrowed the gap to 10-17 with a penalty.
From the restart, a scrum penalty allowed WP a line-out near the Griquas line and from a fractured maul, hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi crawled his way over the line.
Moments later Jaco Coetzee went over, after he regathered a ball that was ‘stripped’ from his hand. The TMO again looked at an obvious forward pass earlier in the move, again finding ‘no clear and obvious’ evidence – a decision that will also be questioned.
Swiel converted the second of the two tries – making it 29-10 after 50 minutes.
With 15 minutes remaining replacement hooker Chad Solomon benefited from another fast-moving maul – getting a try on his 50th appearance for WP. Swiel was wide with the conversion – 34-10.
Right on the full-time hooter replacement Sibabalo Qoma wormed his way over for a consolation try. Andre Swarts added the conversion to make the final score 34-17 to the hosts.
Man of the match: Griquas tried bravely, but were simply no match for the Springbok-laden Western Province team – ably lead by Steven Kitshoff in the absence of Siyamthanda Kolisi and also one of the stand-out players. Our award goes to WP’s Bok hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi, who was awarded with two tries for a productive day at the office – which included a tackle count into double figures.
The scorers
For Western Province
Tries: Mbonambi 2, Du Plessis, Coetzee
Cons: Swiel 3
Pen: Swiel
For Griquas
Tries: Keyter, Qoma
Cons: De Beer, Davids
Pen: De Beer
Teams
Western Province: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 John Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 David Meihuizen, 20 Ernst van Rhyn, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Ruhan Nel, 23 Tristan Leyds.
Griquas: 15 James Verity-Amm, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Andre Swarts, 11 Enver Brandt, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Zak Burger (captain), 8 Johan Momsen, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Cameron Lindsay, 4 Adre Smith, 3 John-Roy Jenkinson, 2 Alandre van Rooyen, 1 Andrew Beerwinkel.
Replacements: 16 Hendrick Luus, 17 Nqobisizwe Mxoli, 18 Tijde Visser, 19 Ewan Coetzee, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Cyril Velleman, 22 Ashlon Davids, 23 Daniel Kasende.
Referee: AJ Jacobs
Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni, Divan Uys
TMO: Joey Klaaste-Salmans
