Classy WP dispatch Griquas in style
Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:55
Star Western Province man Juan de Jongh in full flight. (c) Gallo
Western Province will return to Cape Town with a swagger after smashing Griquas 50-3 in their Currie Cup clash on Saturday - ending their Kimberley bogey in emphatic style.
There was a bigger crowd than usual at GWK Park when WP came to play.
If you looked at the colours the crowd wore you would have sworn it was a Western Province home match - so much support was there for the men from Cape Town. But then some would say that the people of Kimberley above all know gems when they see them!
There had been a lot of nervousness in the Western Province about going up to Kimberley to play as they, amongst other good teams, had lost there before, and the first half of the match was a nervous affair that saw Western Province leading four kicks to one at the break (12-3).
However, the second half was a different matter.
One of Kimberley's weapons is that hard, gravelly brown field - daunting for men from the lush green Cape, but that daunting field is no more. Now the field is beautifully green and it does not look merely cosmetic.
The day was sunny but the wind meant business and Griquas had first use of it.
Before the match there was a sombre moment as the teams stood in silence in respect to a former Griqua player and captain, André van Wyk who was killed in a helicopter accident on Friday. He played 161 times for Griquas, captaining them 66 times.
Willem de Waal, playing his 100th Currie Cup match, kicked-off for Western Province who were playing in white so that their normal Royal Blue would not clash with the Peacock Blue of Griquas.
Western Province started the match crashing into Griquas but the defence was solid and sent them back. In the first half Western Province conceded several turnovers as the Griquas competed better at the breakdown. De Waal opened the scoring with a long penalty goal into the wind when Johan van Deventer was penalised at a tackle.
Griquas had just one penalty in the first half - against Duane Vermeulen when he tackled Richard Lawson high and was yellow-carded. It was a long kick but Naas Olivier goaled it. 3-3 after 17 minutes.
They came within centimetres of scoring when Western Province threw in skew at a line-out five metres from their line and Griquas went right but Lawson was tackled out at the corner.
As usually happens, lively Sarel Pretorius had a long break but Griquas seemed more intent on dropping for goal from afar. Fullback Riaan Viljoen missed four such attempts in the first half.
De Waal goaled two more penalties and Western Province led 9-3 and then Griquas lost speedy wing Bjorn Basson to the sin bin for an air tackle.
Western Province nearly got a try when Juan de Jongh dribbled and gathered but Viljoen tackled him in the corner. De Jongh got the ball down but on the touch-in-goal line.
From the subsequent drop-out Western Province mauled a long way down the field and Jean Botha was penalised for collapsing the maul as it got close to the Griquas line. De Waal, inevitably, goaled again - that made it 12-3 after 38 minutes.
The second half belonged entirely to Western Province and Griquas probably ended the match embarrassed.
The rot set in from a line-out on the Western Province left. They went right and then came back to the left for De Jongh to score in the corner - 19-3 after 48 minutes.
Griquas were close to scoring when Wilmaure Louw grubbered for the goalline but WP centre Paul Bosch saved. Then came disaster for the Griquas. They attacked the Western Province line but conceded a turnover right on the goalline. Western Province picked up the ball and went left with De Jongh running at speed with support from Conrad Jantjies.
Stopped, replacement prop Wicus Blaauw managed to keep the ball infield with a backward flip and Western Province went right. Again it was a back pass, from Vermeulen this time. Replacement No.2 Deon Fourie, ever alert, latched onto the pass and scored. 26-3 after 61 minutes.
In seven minutes Western Province scored three tries.
De Jongh tackled Wilmaure Louw and dislodged the ball. Gio Aplon snatched it up and looked to attack. Western Province went left and Jantjies handed off Michael Passaportis, beat another three Griquas players and scored under the posts - 33-3.
The third try brought the bonus point. Form a penalty Western Province had a line-out on the left. They rushed a maul at the Griqua line but it was collapsed. On advantage De Jongh was close and then the ball went far right to where Aplon tip-toed over for a try. This was the only conversion De Waal; missed. 38-3 after 68 minutes.
Maar nog is dit het einde niet.
There was at this stage only one team playing rugby. A penalty gave Western Province a five-metre line-out which again they mauled till Pieter Louw broke off to score - his fifth of the season, which made it 43-3 after 74 minutes.
The Griquas tried an attack and Olivier spun a long, high pass to his left and there was Lionel Cronjé - on as a replacement - to intercept it and run 65 metres to score a try which he converted.
The final whistle went.
Man of the Match: Springbok centre Juan de Jongh. Griquas have strong centres but they had no way past them while he cut them time and again in the most wholehearted of performances from the young man from Worcester.
The scorers:
For Griquas:
Pen: Olivier
For Western Province:
Tries: De Jongh, Fourie, Jantjes, Aplon, P Louw, Cronjé
Cons: De Waal 3, Cronjé
Pens: De Waal 4
Yellow card(s): Duane Vermeulen (Western Province, 16th minute - dangerous tackle); Bjorn Basson (Griquas, 32nd minute - dangerous tackle)
The teams:
Griquas: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Richard Lawson, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Naas Olivier (captain), 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Burger Schoeman, 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Johan van Deventer, 5 Cecil Kemp, 4 Frikkie Spies, 3 Jean Botha, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse, 18 Gerhard Human, 19 Michael Passaportis, 20 Marnus Hugo, 21 Matthew Rosslee, 22 Rocco Jansen.
Western Province: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Frikkie Welsh, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Anton van Zyl (captain), 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 JD Moller.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Wicus Blaauw, 18 Buhle Mxunyelwa, 19 De Kock Steenkamp, 20 Nick
Köster, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Lionel Cronjé.
Referee: Sindile Mayende
Assistant referees: François Veldsman, De Goede Haasbroek
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
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