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Cape Town - Griquas claimed their second successive Currie Cup win with a 37-29 victory over the Pumas in Kimberley on Friday evening.
Griquas started on the front foot and held possession for four minutes before opening the scoring with a beautiful individual effort from Anthony Volmink, who broke between two tackles in midfield and stepped his way superbly past Kobus Marais before running comfortably in under the posts as George Whitehead added the extras.
The hosts were enjoying overwhelming dominance and Whitehead added another three points in the 19th minute after Pumas flanker Jeandre Rudolph was penalised for offside to extend the lead to 10-0.
But the Pumas fought back and scored their first try in the 25th minute. The Mpumalanga-based side turned over the ball deep in Griquas' territory which allowed Morne Joubert to find space on the overlap down the right-hand side and bash past last defender Whitehead for the score. Marais missed the conversion with the score 10-5.
Griquas thought they had scored their second try in the 35th minute when Gideon van der Merwe dotted down after a series of powerful carries from the forwards but the TMO check revealed that Khwezi Mona had knocked the ball on in the build-up.
The men from Kimberley started the second half as they started the first - in the ascendancy. After winning a penalty at scrum time, Whitehead kicked for the corner and the hosts set up the driving maul, which made good ground. The ball was recycled through the phases before Eduan Keyter came off the left wing and ran a good inside line to scythe through the Pumas defence untouched to dot down.
The visitors hit back immediately through Andrew Beerwinkel, who burrowed his way over from close range. But the game swung back in Griquas favour when Pumas flyhalf Marais committed a poor error, kicking the ball out on the full from inside his 22 after it was taken back.
Once again, the hosts kicked for the corner and set up their tried and trusted driving maul, which was halted just before the tryline but Ewald van der Westhuizen forced his way over with a smart pick-and-go for a 22-12 lead 10 minutes in to the second half.
Marais cut the deficit to seven on the hour mark with a penalty goal after Griquas strayed offside. But soon afterwards, the hosts took the scoreline out of the Pumas' reach once again when scrumhalf Zak Burger made a wonderful sniping break and popped the ball to Andre Swarts, who completed the finish.
Soon afterward, the Pumas hit back as the topsy-turvy nature of the game continued. Etienne Taljaard made a scintillating break down the left wing and popped the ball on the inside to Ashlon Davids, who played the final pass for Ryan Nel to dot down.
With 10 minutes to go, the Pumas levelled matters on the scoreboard at 29-29. Tinus de Beer was penalised for offside and the visitors kicked for the corner before setting up the driving maul which was brought down just a couple of metres out. The ball was recycled through the phases before Alwayno Visagie powered over from close range as Marais added the extras.
But the Kimberley side made sure of victory with a De Beer penalty and then another superb individual try from Volmink, who out-sprinted the Pumas defence from the halfway line to cap off the victory in impressive style.
Scorers:
Griquas
Tries: Volmink (2), Keyter, Van der Westhuizen, Swarts
Conversions: Whitehead (3)
Penalties: Whitehead, De Beer
Pumas
Tries: Joubert, Beerwinkel, Nel, Visagie
Conversions: Marais (3)
Penalty: Marais
Teams:
Griquas
15 Anthony Volmink, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Michal Haznar, 12 Andre Swarts, 11 Eduan Keyter, 10 George Whitehead (captain), 9 Zak Burger, 8 Neill Jordaan, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Ian Groenewald, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 AJ Le Roux, 1 Khwezi Mona
Substitutes: 16 Wilmar Arnoldi, 17 Mox Mxoli, 18 Johan Momson, 19 Zandre Jordaan, 20 Chriswill September, 21 Tinus de Beer, 22 Bjorn Basson, 23 Ruan Kramer
Pumas
15 Devon Williams, 14 Morné Joubert, 13 Ryan Nell (captain), 12 Henko Marais, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Kobus Marais, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Carel du Preez, 6 Jeandré Rudolph, 5 Stefan Willemse, 4 Le Roux Roets, 3 Marné Coetzee, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 1 Andrew Beerwinkel
Substitutes: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Hilton Lobberts, 19 Phumzile Maqondwana, 20 Ashlon Davids, 21 Chris Smith, 22 Alwayno Visagie, 23 Morgan Naude
