Griffons eye another big scalp
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:15
The First Division champion Griffons and beaten finalists the Leopards immediately turned their thoughts to promotion after last Friday's heart-stopping Final.
The Griffons claimed the prize with a hard-fought 31-26 win over the table-topping Leopards at Olen Park in Potchefstroom.
"We're in a good situation," said Griffons flyhalf Kennedy Tsimba, "but we need to build on this and get back into the Premier Division next year."
Leopards head coach Chaka Willemse was obviously disappointed with the final result, but he was quick to look ahead, saying: "It's the business-end of the season now with the promotion/relegation matches; plenty of hard work still lies ahead for us."
The Leopards and the Griffons play home-and-away promotion/relegation matches against the bottom two teams in the Currie Cup Premier Division (the Boland Cavaliers and the Falcons) for the right to participate in the 2009 Currie Cup Premier Division.
The Leopards play against the Falcons (who finished in eighth place on the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division log), with the second-placed Griffons coming up against the Boland Cavaliers (seventh place).
The first leg matches take place on Friday.
Both Boland and the Falcons were also involved in last year's promotion/relegation play-off matches. The Falcons played against the Eagles; with the Falcons winning both matches – 22-17 in Brakpan and 21-11 in George. The other play-off fixtures saw Boland beat the Mighty Elephants 42-13 in Wellington and 26-21 in Port Elizabeth.
The Griffons and Leopards each scored three tries in the final, but the boot of Tsimba – his team's unofficial ‘lucky charm' – provided the major difference in the end, as the Griffons won their first silverware since the Vodacom Shield in 2001.
Tsimba kicked two conversions and four penalties for a match haul of 16 points and he has now not lost a match in a Griffons jerseys – that after making his debut for the Welkom-based team against the Pumas on August 8.
The Griffons – who beat the SWD Eagles 27-17 in their semifinal clash last weekend – led 16-3 at one point in the first half, but the match went down to the wire after a terrific Leopards fightback which saw the teams locked at 26-26 going into the final quarter.
However, Griffons fullback Cecil Afrika's second try in the 71st minute – to go with yet another score from SA Sevens star Howard Noble – put the visitors ahead for the final, and most decisive, time, despite Tsimba's missed conversion.
Loose forwards RW Kember, Riaan Swanepoel and Jaco Bouwer scored all three the Leopards' tries, with flyhalf Clayton Durand – the top points-scorer in the First Division – contributing 11 points through one conversion and three penalties.
Top points-scorers:
176 – Clayton Durand
(Leopards)
120 – Kennedy Tsimba (Griffons)
91 – Jeffrey John Taljard (Border Bulldogs)
84 – Ambrose Regan Barends (SWD Eagles)
81 – Rudi Vogt (Pumas)
Top try-scorers:
11 – Andries van Rensburg (Leopards)
10 – Jan van Zyl (Leopards), Vuyo Zangqa (Leopards)
8 – Cecil Afrika (Griffons)
7 – Norman Nelson (Mighty Elephants), Howard Noble (Griffons)
6 – Russel Jeacocks (Border Bulldogs), Anvor Schooney (Leopards), Allistair Kettledas (SWD Eagles), Johannes Saayman (SWD Eagles)
5 – Eckard Jacobs (Mighty Elephants), Colin Lloyd (Leopards)
