VIDEO: Griquas packed and ready for 'long' road trip
The beaten Currie Cup finalists, Griquas, will start a four-match road trip in Nelspruit this week – a repeat of last year’s Final.
They face off against the team that edged them in a historic Final, a fascinating match-up in an intriguing Round Three encounter at the Mbombela stadium on Friday.
The start of the road trip comes after Griquas produced one of the most remarkable comebacks to record a bonus-point 48-40 Currie Cup Round Two win over the Sharks.
Trailing by 18 points at half-time, the home team scored 38 unanswered points (five tries and a penalty) in a scintillating display of attacking rugby to claim an unassailable 20-point lead with five minutes remaining.
Two late scores were nothing more than a consolation for the visitors.
However, the more significant ‘comeback’ was bouncing back from their opening round loss (19-42) to a fired-up Cheetahs team.
Coach Pieter Bergh said he was “proud” of how his team learnt from that loss and regrouped, after some ‘hard words’.
He added that it is important that they also learn from the win over the Sharks.
(Article continues below the Pieter Bergh interview …)
“We have four away games on the trot,” Bergh said of a run that will see them face the Pumas (Nelspruit), Western Province (Cape Town), the Bulls (Pretoria) and Lions (Johannesburg).
“It is a tough run, [starting] with a short week,” he said of having played on Sunday and the next outing on Friday.
“Against the Pumas, the set pieces – scrums, line-outs and mauls – will always be important for us.
“They are the team in the country, along with Western Province and the Stormers, with the most confidence,” he said of a Pumas outfit that started the season with two impressive victories.
“The way they play, things are coming off for them – their offloads are working.
“Hopefully we can put them under enough pressure to get them on the back foot.
“However, it starts up front – you always have to win that battle if you play a team coached by Jimmy Stonehouse.”
@king365ed
@rugby365com
