The Suzuki Griquas put up a five star show and claimed central union derby rights at Windhoek Draught Park in Kimberley as they beat the Toyota Cheetahs XV 44-31(17-10 half-time) in the Carling Currie Cup on Friday afternoon.
The home side outscored the Cheetahs by seven tries to four to clinch the bonus-point victory, meaning that they leap frogged Western Province to sixth place with 19 points.
Now the Griquas have one game in hand of which they will play next week against Western Province but their fate to proceed to the next round lies on results elsewhere this weekend.
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The same applies to the fourth-placed Cheetahs (25pts) who managed to get a losing bonus point in the game in Kimberley.
They will hope Western Province do them a favour on Sunday and beat fifth-placed Airlink Pumas (24pts) so that when the Cheetahs and Pumas meet in the final round the Cheetahs can have an advantage in the points column in the standing.
FAST START FOR CHEETAHS
In sunny conditions in Kimberley, the Cheetahs had a dream start.
Playing in his 50th game left winger Daniel Kasende finished off a well worked try in the left corner with 44 seconds on the clock.
Kasende joined the list of Chris Jack (20sec), Gerrie Britz (29sec), Paul de Koker (39sec) and Dale Heidtman (40sec) to register the fifth fastest try after kick-off in a Currie Cup match.
From a tight angle near the left touchline flyhalf Ethan Wentzel did the honours to make sure the visitors started things on a full house.
It took Griquas only two minutes to respond to the early blow. Outside centre Zane Bester showed all his speed and finished off a fantastic team try after some slick hands from his backline.
Momentum shifted to the home side following Bester's try, with the Griquas pinning the Cheetahs in their half.
The relentless pressure resulted in hooker Dandre Delport crossing over for Griquas' second try.
The Griquas back-line displayed some incredible skills and hands, with Lubabalo Dobela's grubber kick landing in the hands of Delport who finished off another incredible team try.
Dobela failed to convert the try, leaving the score 10-7 after ten minutes.
Wentzel added three points for the Cheetahs from a penalty close to the 40m mark and tied the scores 10-10 to finish off a scintillating first quarter of the game.
TWO YELLOW CARDS FOR VISITORS
After some relentless phases, the Griquas created magic yet again through Dobela who chipped the ball over the top and collected it to dot down for the men from Kimberly.
He finally managed to get his kicking boots on and converted his try.
The Cheetahs kept on piling pressure on the Griquas defence in the last ten minutes to the half-time break, but the home side showed brilliant defence to take a 17-10 lead to the dressing room.
Griquas picked off from where they left off with Dobela piping over the extra three points to extend the lead with just seven minutes into the second half.
Things turned bad to worse for the Cheetahs as they were sent down to 14 men after Wentzel received a yellow card for a deliberate knock down.
In-form loose forward Marco de Witt made use of the numerical advantage and scored the Griquas' fourth five pointer of the day.
The Cheetahs found themselves down to 13 men with 20 minutes left till the sound of the hooter after loose forward Aidon Davis was sent to the sin bin for cynical play close to his try line.
Griquas did not waste any time as Gustav du Rand powered his way over the whitewash for yet another five points.
Kicking duties were given to scrumhalf Thomas Bursey, who striked the ball beautifully from the corner to extend the lead to 32-10.
TRY AT THE DEATH EARNS CHEETAHS LOSING BONUS POINT
The Cheetahs could not deal with the Kimberley bullet train and waves of attack from the home side, their defence collapsed yet again and this time around Connor Mahoney was the try scorer for the Griquas.
Substitute flyhalf Zenedine Robison added the extras.
Wentzel made amends for his yellow card with a much needed try for the Cheetahs, but the Griquas responded with an immediate reply with a try of their own from Bobby Alexander and made the score 44-17 with eight minutes to go.
The Cheetahs ran in a 100m try from their own try-line with Ali Mgijima strolling over the line, leaving the deficit to 20 points with five minutes to play and in need of one try to get a losing bonus.
The Cheetahs did get that try in the dying minutes through Munier Hutzenburg after the Griquas' substitute scrumhalf Alexander was yellow carded for cynical play as well.
SCORERS
Suzuki Griquas: Tries - Zane Bester, Dandre Delport, Lubabalo Dobela, Marco de Witt, Gustav du Rand, Connor Mahoney, Bobby Alexander
Conversions - Lubabalo Dobela(1), Thomas Bursey (1), Zenedine Robinson (2)
Penalty - Lubabalo Dobela (1)
Toyota Cheetahs XV: Tries - Daniel Kasande, Ethan Wentzel, Ali Mgijima, Munier Hutzenburg
Conversions - Ethan Wentzel (3)
Penalty - Ethan Wentzel (1)