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Cape Town - Griquas remain at the top of the points log in the new provincial competition after beating the Cell C Sharks XV 36-14 at the Mxolisi Dicky Jacobs stadium in Upington on Saturday afternoon.
The home side enjoyed a slender lead of 14-7 at halftime, but produced a stellar performance, specially on defence in the second half, to produce five tries for the bonus point victory.
The first 15 minutes were pretty much an even affair, with both sides getting a feel for each other and not letting up much on defence. Griquas upped it a gear from there, and dominated for the following 20 minutes with converted tries via winger Ntabeni Dukisa and hooker AJ le Roux.
The Sharks did most of the defending, but three minutes from halftime their patience was rewarded as Sharks captain and flanker Khaya Majola produced a good try, which was converted by flyhalf Tristan Tedder to reduce the deficit to just seven points at the break.
Griquas came out all guns blazing in the second half and scored three tries in succession as they managed to completely control the game on attack and defence.
The Sharks, on the other hand, stepped it down a notch, and some tactical subs also did not do much to help their game flow.
The first of Griquas' three tries in the second stanza came via winger Ederies Arendse in the 52nd minute after some good attacking play by the hosts.
Seven minutes later lock Sias Koen scored for the Peacock Blues once again, while centre JW Jonker concluded the fifth five pointer of the afternoon ten minutes before fulltime.
Some credit must go to the Sharks, who did score a consolation try five minutes from time as Griquas let up on defence on a whiff of the victory.
Centre Marius Louw scored and converted his own try, but it wasn’t anywhere near a convincing performance by the visitors.
Griquas 36 (14): Tries: AJ le Roux, Ederies Arendse, JW Jonker, Ntabeni Dukisa, Sias Koen. Conversions: Clinton Swart (4). Penalty: Clinton Swart.
Cell C Sharks XV 14 (7): Khaya Majola, Marius Louw. Conversions: Tristan Tedder, Marius Louw
