Griquas steal dead-rubber arm wrestle over Western Province

Former Western Province youth ranks player Bobby Alexander came back to haunt his ex associates as his last-minute try helped the Suzuki Griquas to a 37-29 (20-15 halftime) win in their final round Carling Currie Cup encounter at Suzuki Stadium in Kimberley on Friday afternoon.

It seemed like WP would wal away with a victory in the city of Diamonds, but substitute scrumhalf Alexander had other ideas.

With WP leading 29-27 with a minute left, some unbelievable play from the Griquas back-line led to Alexander flying over the whitewash to score a brilliant converted try under the poles with a minute left till the final whistle.

The Suzuki Griquas end their season on a high 🙌🏉 pic.twitter.com/YV2mYmkJWu
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 6, 2024

Despite the win Griquas won't be able to proceed to the semifinals as they finished sixth with 24 points, missing out on fourth place by one point while WP got 20 points for the season, one spot below the Griquas.

The mid-table sides came into the game knowing it was a dead rubber.

WP made it clear from the get-go that they were using the game as a warm-up for the United Rugby Championship which kicks off in the coming weeks.

They made 14 changes, with just fullback Luke Burger remaining from the side that beat the Pumas.

The Griquas, who dished out their strongest team for the encounter in contrast to WP, were comfortable on the ball in the opening ten minutes.

They applied immense pressure trying to break the WP defensive line and build up some phases.

But they could not crack the white and blue wall.

WP had some chances to draw first blood but continuous errors in their set pieces, especially in the line-outs, put them on the back foot as they could not string together phases on attack.

MAGICAL PLAY

Griquas pounced on WP's miscommunication and ill-discipline with flyhalf Zinedine Robinson opening their account for the day with a three pointer close to the end of the first quarter.

A few minutes later the home side put in some magical play with Dylan Maart finishing off a well-worked try for the men from Kimberley.

WP fullback Luke Burger was sent off for 10 minutes by referee Aimee Barrett-Theron for a tackle off the ball which happened before Maart’s dot down.

As he had done throughout the competition with his boot, Robinson added the extra two points with ease to extend the lead to 10 points for the home side.

WP forced an immediate response as they suffocated the Griquas defence in their own 22m.

This eventually led to WP getting a penalty, which Jurie Matthee knocked over to narrow the deficit to seven points with 17 minutes to play in the first half.

Momentum swung the visitors' way as they possessed good attacking shape and ball possession just inside the Griquas half.

But they failed to capitalise on the advantage as the home side’s defense stood resolute and turned defence to attack.

With ten minutes till the break the Griquas backline showed electric pace from their own half, which would have resulted in a world-class try but they were stopped just five metres out.

ILL-DICIPLINE FROM BOTH SIDES

Dylan Sjoblom stole WP's defensive line-out on their own try-line and registered the Griquas' second try of the day.

Robison converted the try and extended Griquas' lead to 17-3 with nine minutes to play in the first half.

Ill-discipline struck for the Griquas in the 35 minute after relentless pressure from WP.

Flanker Thabo Ndimande was sent to the sin bin after the TMO spotted a late tackle with no arms just 10 metres out from his try-line.

WP did not waste time and made use of the numerical advantage and put in a powerful rolling maul which resulted in a try for Marcel Theunissen.

A few seconds later WP launched an attack on their halfway line and Dan Du Plessis scored a wonderful try as the backline threw some amazing offloads.

On the brink of halftime, flyhalf Jurie Matthee received a yellow card after the ref deemed him to have been slowing the ball down inside his own red zone.

Robinson knocked over an easy three points and gave the Griquas a 20-15 lead at halftime.

Both teams were evenly matched at the start of the second half.

But it was WP who hit the first blow after an immense 14 minutes to the half.

On his return from the sin bin Matthee delivered a fantastic cross kick which found Du Plessis in the corner who finished off a well-worked try for the WP side.

Matthee converted for the extra two points to put his side into the lead for the first time in the game.

That 22-20 lead did not last for too long as Griquas skipper Marco de Witt answered for his side, showing immense power to cross the line in the 60th minute.

WP continued piling on the pressure but unforced errors continued being a setback to their attack.

They eventually found their rhythm and Damian Markus sniped through the middle and scored a wonderful converted try under the poles, giving WP a 29-27 advantage with nine minutes till the sound of the hooter.

WP attempted to steal the game at the death after Alexander’s heroics but the men from Kimberly stood firm.

Griquas were awarded a penalty on the halfway line for the brilliant defensive work in the 80th minute.

Robinson slotted over as the Griquas finished their 2024 Currie Cup campaign on a high note.