Griquas hold off spirited Lions
Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:57
Naas Olivier, Griquas' captain and points-machine. (c) Gallo
Griquas retained their unbeaten home record in the 2010 Currie Cup with a 26-20 win over a spirited, but outclassed Golden Lions team in Kimberley on Saturday afternoon.
Teams have various forms of help - coaches, defence coaches, forward coaches, backs coaches, kicking coaches, dieticians, fitness trainers, psychologists, medical staff, managers and so on.
Griquas have a weather coach - Louis de Kock who does his own forecasting and does it for the team which takes his advice. When Griquas played the Sharks they won the toss and played into the wind; this time against the Golden Lions they won the toss and played with the wind, which dropped from strong to gentle. But the odd thing is the way the scoring went.
With the wind Griquas scored six points to the Golden Lions' 14; into the wind they scored 20 to six. Strange place Kimberley.
That second-half effort was what won the match for the Diamond miners, their second home win this season and their other scalp was the Sharks. It certainly was a great effort by Dawie Theron's men, especially on defence as the Golden Lions came racing back in search of victory.
That racing back produced an excruciatingly exciting last four and a half minutes.
The Golden Lions were penalised for breaking early from a scrum and Naas Olivier kicked at goal. His kick was to the side and the Lions, needing a converted try to win, raced out of their in-goal and down the field through phase after phases. They got a penalty, tapped and phased again. They got a penalty close to the Griqua line, tapped and phased again, till under the Griqua post, the home side won a turnover. Devon Raubenheimer gave to Olivier to gave to Riaan Viljoen who booted the ball into victory. That was a long attack with great intent from the Golden Lions and adamantine resolve by the Griquas.
In the first half it seemed that the Lions were cruising to victory. After all, they scored two tries and led into the wind.
The first try came from a deep throw-in to the line-out. Jano Vermaak cut back inside Sarel Pretorius and ran behind the line-out for some 30 metres, scampering past Bjorn Basson to score in the right corner. From the corner Herkie Kruger converted to make it 7-0 after 10 minutes.
It was a match of many penalties - 28 in all which went 16-12 in Griquas' favour. Add that to 41 scrums and line-outs, and it was clearly a stop-start affair.
A penalty gave the Lions a five-metre line-out. They threw to the front and lock George Earle came peeling round with Kevin Buys riding shotgun and the two powered over Rayno Barnes for a try in the left corner. Again Kruger converted. But just before the break, Earle collapsed a maul and Olivier made it 14-6 at half-time.
The Golden Lions had the wind in the second half, unaware of De Kock's forecast. They scored first when former Maties captain Wesley Wilkins was penalised at a tackle and led 17-6 after 42 minutes. In the next 38 minutes with the wind they scored three points.
Griquas chose a five-metre scrum instead of a penalty and first Leon Karemaker bashed close, then Pretorius fed prop Jacobie Adriaanse who powered through Buys, stretched and scored under the posts - 17-13 after 45 minutes.
Jaco Taute had a telling break and Marius Delport seemed certain to score when Pretorius felled him just short of the line. Griquas attacked but Ross Geldenhuys won a turnover to give the Lions a chance to attack. Basson raced down the left, chipped and gathered and Griquas were promising.
From a line-out Griquas attacked. Pretorius had a hand in everything they did, until Basson enjoyed an overlap and scored. From 10 centimetres in from touch Olivier converted and for the first time in the match the Griquas led - 20-17 with 21 minutes to play.
Two penalties to Griquas in quick succession gave Olivier the chance to take the score to 23-17 with 18 minutes to play.
Barry Geel was penalised for a deliberate knock-on and Kruger made it 23-20 with 13 minutes to play.
The excitement was building up.
Jonathan Mokuena tugged Basson around the neck in a maul and was penalised. Olivier goaled - 26-20 with 12 minutes to go.
For the most part Griquas were in charge of those 12 minutes, but they did end with the thrilling four and a half.
Man of the Match: The astonishing Jacobie Adriaanse at tighthead who scrummed powerfully, ran strongly and scored the try which set his side on the road to victory.
The scorers:
For Griquas:
Tries: Adriaanse, Basson
Cons: Olivier 2
Pens: Olivier 4
For the Golden Lions:
Tries: Vermaak, Earle
Cons: Kruger 2
Pens: Kruger 2
The teams:
Griquas: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Rocco Jansen, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Naas Olivier (captain), 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Leon Karemaker, 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Wesley Wilkins, 5 Cecil Kemp, 4 Frikkie Spies, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Albertus Buckle, 18 Michael Passaportis, 19 Gerhard Human, 20 Marnus Hugo, 21 Matthew Rosslee, 22 Richard Lawson.
Lions: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Marius Delport, 12 Waylon Murray, 11 Michael Killian, 10 Herkie Kruger, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Franco van der Merwe (captain), 6 Derick Minnie, 5 David Bulbring, 4 George Earle, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 Kevin Buys.
Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Wayne Swart, 18 Trevor Hall, 19 Jonathan Mokuena, 20 Chris Jonck, 21 Elton Jantjies, 22 Doppies la
Grange.
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe
Assistant referees: Jason Jaftha, Stefan Breytenbach
TMO: JC Fortuin
By Paul Dobson
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