Province punish lively Griquas

Western Province took their opportunities well to secure a 45-21 bonus point victory over Griquas at Newlands on Saturday.

At last, you cried with alleluia, a day-time match at Newlands. The sun shone for a rugby match at Newlands in 2012. The opposition have come off great wins over the Golden Lions in their Johannesburg lair, the Sharks in Kimberley and last weekend the Blue Bulls in Kimberley when the home side scored 49 points. They have been playing brilliant, positive, expansive rugby. They, like Western Province, had 15 points on the log, candidates for the semifinals and vying for a home semifinal.

You would have rubbed you hands and prepared for a big, excited crowd at the historic ground.

If those were your thoughts, you would have been so disappointed. There were only 8 530 people in the ground, but those who were there would have enjoyed a lively match of nine tries, as both teams ran the ball whenever possible.

Of those nine tries Western Province scored six as last week Western Province's bubble burst in wet Durban when the Sharks smashed them. This time it was their turn to do the smashing, as they closed down Kimberley's great diamond mine yet again.

For the second week in a row, there was a colour clash. Last week it was clash of white when the Cheetahs played the Golden Lions, put right after 13 minutes. This week Griquas wore their tractional peacock blue and white hoops and Western Province their traditional royal blue and white hoops. That lasted till half-time when the visitors changed into white jerseys with pencil-thin peacock blue stripes. Those who suffered most from the colour clash may just have been the visitors.

When the Cheetahs and the Golden Lions were all in white, Frans van der Merwe intercepted a pass from Tewis du Bruyn of the Cheetahs and scored. This week Western Province intercepted two passes form Willie le Roux and scored two tries. In neither match was there an intercept after the colour clashes had been sorted out.

The Kimberleyites did not ever really look likely to win, ebullient though they were. They attacked first but Le Roux kicked dead and then Western Province went on the attack down the Railway Stand side. Griquas were penalised at a scrum and scrumhalf  Louis Schreuder tapped and darted ahead. Veering left he found Joe Pietersen unmarked and the fullback scored in the left corner. Demetri Catrakilis, who enjoyed an afternoon of metronomic perfection with the boot, converted. On only one occasion did he fail with a kick – when he was short with a long-range attempt in the second half. 7-0 after 5 minutes.

The game moved hither and thither till the liveliest player of them all, Marnus Schoeman, the revelation of the 2012 Currie Cup, picked up at a tackle/ruck and raced the 20 metres or so to the posts. 7-7 after 12 minutes.

Le Roux passed and Gerhard van den Heever, an increasingly valuable player, intercepted  and sped 62 metres down the field to score. 14-7 after 17 minutes.

Schoeman was penalised at a tackle and from 45 metres out and at an angle Pietersen goaled. 17-7 after 22 minutes.

Near the half-way line Le Roux passed but Marcel Brache plucked the high pass out of the air and ran half the length of the field to score under the posts. 24-7 after 31 minutes. Four minutes later Western Province turned a penalty into a five-metre line-out and mauled. As he has done before Deon Fourie is the one credited with scoring the try, a bonus-point try. From the left touchline Catrakilis converted. 31-7, the half-time score.

At the start of the second half, Gio Aplon, who had a busy game, darted ahead and then Luzuko Vulindlu, on for Richard Lawson who had damaged a shoulder, had a great run down the middle of the field and set his side attacking. They had a five-metre scrum and got the shove on against Western Province who infringed two metres from their line. The referee believed that the infringement prevented the scoring of a try and awarded a penalty try. 31-14 after 56 minutes.

Nic Groom kicked an up-'n-under, the ball bounced and hooker Scarra Ntubeni latched onto the ball and scurried some 25 metres to the left corner to score. 38-14 after 64 minutes. The crowd enjoyed that one and so did Ntubeni and his team-mates.

Then it was Western Province's turn to have a five-metre scrum. Jebb Sinclair powered to the line and the TMO advised that a try had been scored. 45-14 with five minutes to play.

Griquas went through many phases that did not seem to advance against the strong Western Province defence till Le Roux flicked and inside pass to Rocco Jansen and the wing raced through under the posts.

Le Roux broke promisingly and when he passed the catcher was not there because Don Armand had tackled him early, thus earning Armand a yellow card with seconds to play.

Man of the Match: For the second match at Newlands in a row the choice of Man of the Match is busy hooker Scarra Ntubeni.

The scorers:

For Western Province:

Tries: Pietersen, Van den Heever, Brache, Fourie, Ntubeni, Sinclair

Cons: Catrakilis 6

Pen: Pietersen

For Griquas:

Tries: Schoeman, penalty try, Jansen

Cons: Brummer 3

Yellow Card: Armand (Early tackle, 79 mins)

Western Province: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Gio Aplon, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Don Armand, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff.

Replacements: 16 Deon Carstens, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Helmut Lehmann, 19 JJ Gagiano, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Gary van Aswegen, 22 Damian de Allende.

Griquas: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Richard Lawson, 13 Jean Stemmet, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Rocco Jansen, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Wesley Wilkins, 7 Justin Downey, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Rynhardt Landman, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes (captain), 1 Steph Roberts.

Replacements: 16 Matt Dobson, 17 Ivann Espag, 18 Edwin Hewitt, 19 Leon Karemaker, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 Marnitz Boshoff, 22 Luzuko Vulindlu.

Referee: Stuart Berry

Assistants: Sindile Mayende, Marc van Zyl

TMO: Deon van Blommenstein