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Cape Town - Western Province recovered from a half-time deficit to pick up a vital 52-31 Currie Cup win against Griquas in Kimberley on Friday.
Tries from Juan de Jongh, Bongi Mbonambi, Huw Jones, Werner Kok, Nizaam Carr and Leolin Zas saw them take a bonus-point win to go fourth.
In reply the hosts' try-scorers were JW Jonker, Rudi van Rooyen, Andre Swarts and Jonathan Adendorf as they suffered a first defeat at home.
Griquas began with real intent on the 130th anniversary of the union and Western Province were on the back foot from the off in Kimberley.
After 10 minutes of pressure eventually it told on the left wing when Jonker crossed after a strong carry from Wendal Wehr. Clinton Swart added the difficult conversion from near to the sideline as the Griquas moved into a 7-0 lead, much to the delight of the home supporters.
Swart was unsuccessful with two penalty attempts soon after, one being much more kickable than the other, as the buffer remained at seven.
It came back to haunt both Swart and Griquas as Western Province made them pay on a counter-attack with winger Zas and Huw Jones combining to allow De Jongh a run-in under the posts. Robert du Preez sent over the simple extras and somehow the game was locked up at seven apiece.
That didn't last long however as from a quick tap five metres from the WP line, scrum-half Van Rooyen powered over to push his side 7-14 ahead.
It was a blow followed by a counter blow from then until the break as yet again, Province hit back, this time through Springbok hooker Mbonambi from close-range before Griquas replacement Swarts sliced through a hole. With a late Du Preez penalty, the half-time scoreline was 17-21.
That was reduced to one point six minutes into the second period when Du Preez slotted another penalty after Griquas failed to roll away. However, that margin was back up to four moments later as Swarts stepped up from distance to make it 24-20 in a finely-balanced contest.
Province responded to that penalty in perfect style on 50 minutes when a flat pass from Cheslin Kolbe put centre Jones on the outside of his man for the score and when Kok crossed soon after on the other touchline, the visitors had the try bonus-point and a 32-24 advantage.
Those two crossings seemed to stun the home fans and players and there was a lull in the action moving past the hour mark at Griqua Park.
Western Province continued to turn the screw and an impressive scrum on halfway resulted in a penalty that Du Preez kicked from 40 metres.
They weren't done as a score from number eight Carr in the 70th minute was Province's fifth before Zas added a sixth in the final play, this after Griquas replacement Jonathan Adendorf had handed his side a try bonus-point in defeat.
Scorers:
Griquas
Tries: Jonker, Rooyen, Swarts, Adendorf
Conversions: Swart (2), Swarts (2)
Penalty: Swarts
Western Province
Tries: De Jongh, Mbonambi, Jones, Kok, Carr, Zas
Conversions: Du Preez (5)
Penalties: Du Preez (4)
Teams:
Griquas
15 AJ Coertzen (captain), 14 JW Jonker, 13 Johnathan
Francke, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Ederies Arendse, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Rudi
van Rooyen, 8 Jono van Rensburg, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Wandile
Putuma, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 AJ le Roux, 1 Steph
Roberts
Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Devon Martinus, 18 Jonathan Adendorf, 19 Jason Fraser, 20 Renier Botha, 21 Andre Swarts, 22 Eric Zana
Western Province
15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Juan de
Jongh, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Dewaldt
Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Chris
van Zyl (captain), 4 Jan de Klerk, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse
van Rensburg
Replacements: 16 Mike Willemse, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 JP Smith, 19 Dave Ribbans, 20 Jurie van Vuuren, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Johnny Kotze
