Griquas edge ill-disciplined WP in diamond city

The Tafel Lager Griquas edged an ill-disciplined DHL Western Province 22-20 (halftime 12-10) in a poor Carling Currie Cup encounter at Tafel Lager Park in Kimberley on Friday evening.

Griquas made it three wins from three matches over Western Province in the Currie Cup after having done the double over the Cape side last season as well as inflicting a third-straight defeat on Province.

Both sides scored two tries with Western Province wing Leolin Zas grabbing a brace while Griquas’ efforts both came from rolling mauls with replacement forwards Andries Schutte and Gustav du Rand coming up with the ball.

Centre Zander du Plessis landed four penalties while missing both conversions while Province flyhalf Tim Swiel landed two conversions and two penalties while missing a crucial penalty early in the second half.

Both sides struggled with their handling while Griquas struggled with their lineouts although the home side dominated the scrums, winning numerous penalties at scrum-time. Province though conceded 16 penalties throughout the match to just the seven from the home team.

Province were set back midway through the first half when lock BJ Dixon was sent to the sin-bin for pulling on Stefan Ungerer with Griquas on the attack. The damage was only limited to a penalty which gave Griquas a 12-7 lead.

Province scored the first try of the match with Sergeal Petersen being brought down just short of the line, but Zas was quick to react, picking up at the base of the ruck and darting over and with Swiel converting, Province claimed a 7-3 lead after Du Plessis had given Griquas an early lead with his first shot at goal.

But Griquas kept pressurising the visitors and won numerous penalties which Du Plessis slotted before Swiel landed a late penalty to bring Province within two points at the break.

Early in the second stanza, Swiel missed a relatively easy shot at goal before making amends and giving WP a slender one-point advantage six minutes later. But as the second half wore on, Griquas gained the upper hand in the scrums and used this to their advantage.

With Province being penalised, Du Plessis kicked to the right-hand corner and from the resulting lineout, the hosts mauled over the line with Schutte landing his first Currie Cup try. Du Plessis missed the extra two points but moved the hosts four points clear.

With just eight minutes to go, Griquas again won a scrum penalty and kicked for the corner. They managed to secure their lineout ball and Du Rand controlled well at the back to score his try and push Griquas out to a commanding nine-point advantage.

The game suddenly sprang into life when Province tried to break out of their own 22m area as Kudzwai Dube was sin-binned for a dangerous high tackle. WP had just 50 seconds to score to give themselves a chance and that they did. Swiel booted the ball down-field and with a quick lineout, moved the ball to the left where Zas went over for his second score of the night.

Swiel converted to bring Province to within a penalty or drop-goal of winning the match but from the kick-off, WP failed to gain any momentum and Cornel Smit mistimed a pass which went into touch, giving Griquas four valuable log points.

Tafel Lager Griquas – Tries: Andries Schutte, Gustav du Rand; Penalties: Zander du Plessis (4).

DHL Western Province – Tries: Leolin Zas (2); Conversions: Tim Swiel (2); Penalties: Swiel (2).