Griquas thump Province, one step closer to semis

Griquas (24) 46

Tries: Van der Merwe, Sirgel, Smith, Steenkamp, Verity-Amm (2); Conversions: Whitehead (5); Penalties: Whitehead (2)

Western Province (18) 25

Tries: Petersen, Nel, Fouche; Conversions: Swiel (2) Penalties: Swiel (2)

GRIQUAS produced a superb physical display to thump Western Province in Kimberley yesterday in the penultimate round of the Currie Cup.

The hosts kept their play-off hopes alive with the bonus-point win over John Dobson’s side after leading by six at the break. For Province, however, their final regular-season game is now an absolute must-win.

Griquas scored three first-half tries through Gideon van der Merwe, Hanru Sirgel and Adre Smith, with flyhalf George Whitehead adding three conversions and a penalty.

The visitors bagged two tries in the opening half, with Sergeal Petersen and Ruhan Nel crossing over in the blue and white.

It was an error-strewn affair in the Northern Cape, with both sides exploiting the other’s mistakes.

While the digits were fairly tight in the first half, Griquas took control as half-time approached, with their forwards dominating their Cape counterparts.

Province had a poor start to the second half, with Griquas scoring from a five-metre scrum after the kick-off.

They extended their lead to 36-15 with a quarter left in the match after further tries from Ruan Steenkamp and James Verity-Amm.

Province ran in a try with 15 minutes to go, but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation as Griquas hit back and scored 10 unanswered points in the last 10 minutes.

Speaking after the game, Dobson lamented their performance.

“It was a very disappointing day for us, especially not getting the points that we needed,” he said.

“We’re still in the competition, we just need to make sure that we get five points in Durban, we have a reasonable recent record there.

“(Conceding) 21 points from restarts … that’s not a new problem. It hurt us against the Pumas. Without making excuses, coming up to Kimberley for game three in eight days and playing at one in the afternoon was always going to be a tough one, I think we stayed in the game reasonably well. I don’t think we chased the game particularly well.

“So, there is a lot of disappointment, it was a disappointing game all-round. We have a lot to play for next week.”

The win takes Griquas to third on the log, while Western Province are in fifth spot.

Province travel to Durban to face the in-form Sharks on Saturday.