Griffons v Leopards in First Div Final
Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:58
The Griffons advanced to their first First Division Final when they beat the South Western Districts (SWD) Eagles 27-17 in Welkom on Saturday.
They will meet the Leopards in Potchefstroom next Friday.
Two tries by Cheetahs and Emerging 'Bok wing Howard Noble and 17 points by veteran Kennedy Tsimba did the damage and took the Griffons clear of the Eagles.
The Eagles lost momentum the moment their brains trust decided to fire their successful coach Phil Pretorius and their season took a nose dive from then on.
Tsimba was the general and rattled up the points with his trusty boot, but it was easy behind a rampant pack of forwards which dominated the big Eagles' pack.
No.8 Ashley Johnson - perhaps the Player of the Season for the local side - was the star performer for the winning team with a lot of help from flank Francois Uys, lock Windpomp van Rooyen and hooker Andries Kruger.
The Griffons will meet the Boland Cavaliers in a promotion-relegation series following next week's Final.
Scorers:
Griffons:
Tries: Noble 2
Con: Tsimba
Pens: Tsimba 5
Eagles:
Tries: Van der Merwe, McBean
Cons: Barends 2
Pen: Barends
* The Leopards stormed into the Final by trouncing the Pumas 50-18 in their semifinal at Olen Park on Friday.
If anyone had any doubts about which team is the favourite to lift the title then this performance by the Leopards certainly announced that it will take some doing to beat them next week in Potchefstroom.
The teams were evenly matched for the first half hour with Puma fullback Rudi Vogt and Leopards flyhalf Clayton Durand exchanging two penalties apiece for the only points in that period, but when the hosts found their rhythm, the men from Mpumalanga had no answer for the brutal aggression by the Leopards forwards as well as the hard running of their backs.
The Leopards will meet the Falcons in a promotion-relegation series following next week's Final.
Scorers:
Leopards:
Ties: Van Rensburg 2, Nel, Schooney, Linde
Cons: Durand 3, Schooney 2
Pens: Durand 5
Pumas:
Pens: Vogt 6
