Griquas stunned an inaccurate Western Province in Kimberley to overtake their illustrious rivals on the Currie Cup standings.
Four Zander du Plessis penalties and two second-half tries saw the Griquas convert a 12-10 halftime lead into a 22-20 victory and climb into fourth place, three points clear of Province who slumped to a 1-3 record on the season with this result.
WP appeared to have the early dominance in the first half. At the scrum things were going the way of the visitors and they utilised it as a base from which to attack.
After proving overzealous in defence, Province strayed offside and gave Griquas the chance to open the scoring, which they promptly did through the boot of Du Plessis, deployed at inside centre.
Province struck back soon after following a scrum penalty earned by Ali Vermaak. A solid maul resulted from the kick to the corner before the play went wide. Sergeal Petersen was tackled short of the line but the prolific Leolin Zas was present to capitalise and score WP’s first try. Tim Swiel adding the extras.
In spite of having conceded the first try, Griquas meticulously built their way back into the contest. The ever-accurate Du Plessis added another three penalties, making Province pay for their ill-discipline.
Tim Swiel pulled one penalty back for the visitors on the stroke of half time to add some respectability to the score line and keep the visitors in touch as the players headed into the tunnel.
WP came out all guns blazing and played all the rugby in opposition territory at the start of the second half. Eventually the pressure told with points coming from the boot of Tim Swiel to put WP back in front, 13-12.
The rest of the contest was one-way traffic, however, as the Griquas asserted their dominance through tries by Andries Schutte, off the back of a rolling maul, and Gustav du Rand.
Province kept fighting until the last and crossed for a try in the 79th minute – Zas collecting his second. It would prove to have no bearing on the contest however as the match finished 22-20.
