Bonus point for Griquas

The Griquas ran four tries past the Leopards in Kimberly to win their Currie Cup clash 32-18 on Friday.

The Griquas ran four tries past the Leopards in Kimberly to win their Currie Cup clash 32-18 on Friday.

Griquas bagged a morale-boosting win – their third of the Currie Cup season –with a clinical display.

The Leopards are left trailing in last place in the standings with only five points from as many matches.

The hosts made their intentions clear from the start, racing to a 13-0 lead after 24 minutes, and never looked back.

Full-back Rudi Vogt was successful with the first kick of the night, bagging three points with an early penalty attempt.

Centre Jean Stemmet then went over with the opening try of the match in the 17th minute. Vogt converted and six minutes later he added another penalty to give the home side a clear advantage.

Leopards wing Hoffman Maritz eventually got the visitors on the board when he dotted down in the 28th minute, and fly-half Wesley Dunlop converted to keep them in the game.

Griquas, however, regained their advantage shortly before the break when wing Riaan Viljoen scored a try in the dying minutes of the first half, which Vogt converted to give them a 20-7 lead.

The Leopards, to their credit, continued to fight, and Dunlop took advantage of handling errors by the hosts to add six valuable points, slotting two penalties shortly after the break.

Striking back for the hosts, however, substitute Matthew Rosslee went over midway through the second half to stretch the gap again and keep Griquas on the front foot.

Eight minutes later the Leopards countered once more when eighthman Morne Hanekom went over for the visitors, but Dunlop missed the conversion, and those would be their last points of the match.

Flanker Davon Raubenheimer barged over for Griquas with six minutes left, and while his try was disallowed, substitute Wilmaure Louw stormed over on the right two minutes later for the bonus point.

Substitute Monty du Mond converted the try to secure the win.

The scorers:

For Griquas:
Tries: Stemmet, Viljoen, Rosslee, Louw
Cons: Vogt 2, Dumond
Pens: Vogt 2

For Leopards:
Tries: Hoffman, Maritz
Cons: Dunlop
Pens: Dunlop 2

Griquas: 15 Rudi Vogt, 14 Riaan Viljoen, 13 Jean Stemmet, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Dusty Noble, 10 Earl Rose, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Burger Schoeman, 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Jonathan Mokuena (c)/Justin Downey, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Jean Botha
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dobson, 17 Ivann Espag, 18 Frikkie Spies, 19 Downey/Marnus Schoeman, 20 Matthew Rosslee, 21 Monty Dumond, 22 Wilmaure Louw.

Leopards: 15 Clayton Durand, 14 George Tossel, 13 Charl Weideman, 12 Joubert Engelbrecht, 11 Vainon Willis, 10 Wesley Dunlop, 9 Whestley Moolman, 8 Morne Hanekom (c), 7 Luvuyiso Lusaseni, 6 Philip De Wet, 5 Christo Van Niekerk, 4 Brendon Snyman, 3 Stephan Bezuidenhout, 2 Gavin Williamson, 1 BG Uys.
Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Berend Botha, 18 Roelof Van Heerden, 19 Spanner Pretorius, 20 Theo van Wyk, 21 Walter Venter, 22 Jovan Bowles.

Referee: Joey Salmans