Blue Bulls survive Griquas fightback

Pretoria - The Blue Bulls held off a strong fightback from Griquas to win their Currie Cup encounter at Loftus Versfeld on Friday evening.

The Bulls won 44-42, after leading 27-21 at half-time.

The home side led 41-21 at one stage in the second half but in the end had to fend for their lives to keep the visitors from Kimberley at bay.

The Bulls were outscored six tries to five but will be relieved to get back to winning ways, having lost their four previous games.

Griquas scored their sixth try after the hooter had sounded but a penalty from replacement Bulls flyhalf Tony Jantjies a minute earlier proved the difference.

Bulls fullback Manie Libbok, who replaced Warrick Gelant before kick-off, scored a hat-trick of tries and was named man-of-the-match.

Following their bonus-point win, the Bulls temporarily moved up to third spot on the log, while Griquas - who claimed two bonus points - are fifth.

The Bulls have a bye next weekend, while Griquas host the Golden Lions in Kimberley (Friday, September 8 - 19:15).

Scorers:

Blue Bulls

Tries: Rabs Maxwane, Dayan van der Westhuizen, Manie Libbok (3)
Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (5)
Penalties: Boshoff (2), Tony Jantjies

Griquas

Tries: Ederies Arendse (2), Christiaan Meyer, Wandile Putuma, AJ Coertzen (2)
Conversions: Andre Swarts (3), George Whitehead (3)

Teams:

Blue Bulls

15 Manie Libbok, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 JT Jackson, 11 Rabs Maxwane, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Nic de Jager (captain), 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Shaun Adendorff, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Aston Fortuin, 3 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Lizo Gqoboka

Substitutes: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Matthys Basson, 18 Jano Venter, 19 Tim Agaba, 20 Andre Warner, 21 Tony Jantjies/Tinus de Beer, 22 Stedman Gans/Franco Naude

Griquas

15 AJ Coertzen (captain), 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Tertius Kruger, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 Koch Marx, 10 Andre Swarts, 9 Christiaan Meyer, 8 Jonathan Janse van Rensburg, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Pieter Janse van Vuren, 4 FP Pelser, 3 Sptehna Kotze, 2 Wilmar Arnoldi, 1 Liam Hendricks

Substitutes: 16 AJ Le Roux, 17 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 18 Wandile Putuma, 19 De Wet Kruger, 20 Renier Botha, 21 George Whitehead, 22 Eric Zana