Fouche miss hands Griquas dramatic win

New Nation Pumas flyhalf Eddie Fouche missed a penalty kick after the final hooter to hand the Tafel Lager Griquas a hard-fought 23-22 win in Kimberley on Saturday.

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Fouche’s kick drifted right and was met with whoops of joy from the home side, minutes after the Pumas had demolished the Griquas scrum to keep the game alive.

Griquas had taken the lead with a minute to go through a Tinus de Beer penalty and had a scrum that they simply needed to recycle and send in to touch to win the game, but the powerful Pumas pack had other ideas.

It brought a dramatic end to the two franchises' Kick Off series and gave Griquas coach Scott Mathie his first victory in three encounters against the lowveld side since the lockdown began.

It will be a victory that will be savoured in Kimberley, especially after the home side led 11-0 at the break, and then let through 19 unanswered points where they received three yellow cards and conceded a penalty try.

To recover from those setbacks was an exceptional fightback by Griquas to take the game down to the wire.

The first half was mostly scrappy, except for the solitary try by Griquas winger Daniel Kasende, who picked up a dropped up and under and sprinted through to score. Two De Beer penalties made up the half.

But Griquas’ problems began when lock Adre Smith was carded just before halftime for foul language and it gave the Pumas – who received a tongue lashing at halftime no doubt – the chance to make their way back into the game.

The comeback started when Etienne Taljaard grabbed a grubber sent through by Fouche’s boot to score the opening try and was followed up by a textbook rolling maul try for hooker Simon Westraad.

But things went from bad to worse when the Griquas team lost two replacements in HJ Luus and Sibabalo Qoma to cards for infringements close to the line. The second yellow resulted in a penalty try as well, and, coupled with Fouche’s penalties, saw the Pumas suddenly 19-11 up.

Griquas started to claw their way back into the game with 13 men and were resolute, taking every penalty and narrowing the score to just two points through De Beer’s boot.

Fouche made it a five-point game again with a penalty but De Beer’s fifth penalty brought the lead down and his six gave Griquas the lead with a minute to go.

It seemed as if the drama was a thing of the past until the final scrum and Fouche’s missed kick brought the game to a close and handed the home side the narrowest of wins.

Scorers:

New Nation Pumas - Tries:Etienne Taljaardt, Simon Westraadt, Penalty try. Conversion:Eddie Fouche. Penalty:Fouche

Tafel Lager Griquas - Try:Daniel Kasende. Penalties:Tinus de Beer (6)