Kempton Park - The Griquas eased into the Vodacom Cup quarterfinals thanks to a 40-7 (half-time 21-0) win over the Falcons in their North Section match at the Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park on Saturday.
Needing a win to guarantee their participation in the knockout stage, the visitors had little difficulty achieving their aim as they ran in six tries with loosehead prop Janro van Niekerk grabbing a hat-trick while eighthman Leon Karemaker snared a brace of tries.
The victory was enough to secure a third place on the North Section log thanks to four wins from seven games.
The Falcons could only reply with a converted second-half try from right wing Sandile Ngcobo as the men from Kempton Park ended their season having won just two of their seven games.
The Griquas took a while to get into their stride with their first points only coming in the 28th minute of the match, when Karemaker dotted down.
They scored two tries in the last eight minutes of the half with scrumhalf Enrico Acker sniping over and Van Niekerk rumbling over for his first try, two minutes before the break.
Flyhalf Pieter-Steyn de Wet converted all three of the first-half-tries with Griquas going to the break holding a comfortable 21-0 lead.
The second-half followed a similar pattern with Van Niekerk grabbing his second try in the 57th minute, before completing his hat-trick with 13 minutes left in the contest.
The Falcons had narrowed the gap to 28-7 thanks to Ngcobo's 60th minute try but Van Niekerk's third try made sure of the win before Karemaker, adding icing on the cake, scored his second try seven minutes before the final whistle.
Scorers
Falcons - Try: Sandile Ngcobo; Conversion: Juan Kotze.
Griquas - Tries: Leon Karemaker (2), Enrico Acker, Janro van Niekerk (3); Conversions: Pieter-Steyn de Wet (5).