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Witbank - Griquas wing Bjorn Basson tied the record for the most Currie Cup tries in one season when he secured a brace in his team's 61-31 victory over the Pumas in Witbank on Saturday.
Basson is now equal with Carel du Plessis and Colin Lloyd on 19 tries and will look to make the record his own in next week's clash against the Blue Bulls in Kimberley.
Griquas took full advantage of a lucklustre Pumas side, scoring nine tries to prove they are still a fair way better than the rest of the traditionally smaller unions.
A power outage caused a 20 minute delay to the start of the match, and the Pumas may have wished it had never started because the visitors had bagged a bonus point with four tries after a little more than 15 minutes.
At half-time, Griquas, who started the match with only a mathematical chance of qualifying for the semifinals, had built a 40-12 lead by running the Pumas off their feet from everywhere on the field.
The Pumas failed to catch the first kick-off of the game, and a few phases later Griquas’ flyhalf, Naas Olivier, crashed over in the corner. His half-back parter, Sarel Pretorius, sneaked around a ruck three minutes later to score again.
And after nine minutes the flying Basson was also on the scoreboard after an easy breakaway try.
Griquas held an early 19-0 lead but the Pumas fought back and got on the scoreboard when flanker Corn Steenkamp touched down as the ball carrier at the back end of a maul.
Moments later, however, Griquas had their bonus point secured when centre Barry Geel ran a clever line to dot down beneath the sticks, and although Steenkamp drove over the line for a second try, the men from Kimberley ended the half as strong as they had started it.
Pretorius was at his sniping best, and two great breakaways by the scumhalf led to tries from fullback Riaan Viljoen and hooker Ryno Barnes.
The Pumas swapped their white jerseys for grey ones after half-time and did somewhat better in the latter strip. They kept Griquas scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the second spell.
A well deserved try from replacement flank Wesley Wilkins, who had been on since the 22nd minute, got the ball rolling again for Griquas.
But then came Basson’s big moment. The Pumas spilt the ball at a ruck and Basson picked it up and ran all the way from his own 22-metre line to outsprint the cover defence for his record equalling try.
The small crowd rose to applaud the speedster, who will be leaving Griquas for the Bulls in 2011.
There was some cheer also for the home team, who snatched a bonus point for bagging four tries as they scored three times late in the game.
And while Basson didn’t manage to crack the 20-try mark, fellow wing Rocco Jansen rounded out a resounding win. Flyhalf Olivier also converted eight of his team's nine tries.
Scorers:
Basson is now equal with Carel du Plessis and Colin Lloyd on 19 tries and will look to make the record his own in next week's clash against the Blue Bulls in Kimberley.
Griquas took full advantage of a lucklustre Pumas side, scoring nine tries to prove they are still a fair way better than the rest of the traditionally smaller unions.
A power outage caused a 20 minute delay to the start of the match, and the Pumas may have wished it had never started because the visitors had bagged a bonus point with four tries after a little more than 15 minutes.
At half-time, Griquas, who started the match with only a mathematical chance of qualifying for the semifinals, had built a 40-12 lead by running the Pumas off their feet from everywhere on the field.
The Pumas failed to catch the first kick-off of the game, and a few phases later Griquas’ flyhalf, Naas Olivier, crashed over in the corner. His half-back parter, Sarel Pretorius, sneaked around a ruck three minutes later to score again.
And after nine minutes the flying Basson was also on the scoreboard after an easy breakaway try.
Griquas held an early 19-0 lead but the Pumas fought back and got on the scoreboard when flanker Corn Steenkamp touched down as the ball carrier at the back end of a maul.
Moments later, however, Griquas had their bonus point secured when centre Barry Geel ran a clever line to dot down beneath the sticks, and although Steenkamp drove over the line for a second try, the men from Kimberley ended the half as strong as they had started it.
Pretorius was at his sniping best, and two great breakaways by the scumhalf led to tries from fullback Riaan Viljoen and hooker Ryno Barnes.
The Pumas swapped their white jerseys for grey ones after half-time and did somewhat better in the latter strip. They kept Griquas scoreless for the first 10 minutes of the second spell.
A well deserved try from replacement flank Wesley Wilkins, who had been on since the 22nd minute, got the ball rolling again for Griquas.
But then came Basson’s big moment. The Pumas spilt the ball at a ruck and Basson picked it up and ran all the way from his own 22-metre line to outsprint the cover defence for his record equalling try.
The small crowd rose to applaud the speedster, who will be leaving Griquas for the Bulls in 2011.
There was some cheer also for the home team, who snatched a bonus point for bagging four tries as they scored three times late in the game.
And while Basson didn’t manage to crack the 20-try mark, fellow wing Rocco Jansen rounded out a resounding win. Flyhalf Olivier also converted eight of his team's nine tries.
Scorers:
Pumas 31 -- Tries: Corné Steenkamp (2), Elgar Watts, Hendrik van der Nest, Shaun Venter. Conversions: Watts (2), Ricardo Croy.
Griquas 61 -- Tries: Barry Geel, Bjorn Basson (2), Naas Olivier, Riaan Viljoen, Rocco Jansen, Ryno Barnes, Sarel Pretorius, Wesley Wilkins. Conversions: Olivier (7), Rudi Vogt.
