Golden Lions overpower Griquas

The Golden Lions claimed their second win in a row with a 34-17 bonus-point victory over the Griquas at Kimberley Stadium on Friday evening.

Prior to their victory last weekend, they had lost five in a row so coach Swys De Bruin will be pleased they are getting back to winning ways.

The result means De Bruin’s side move off the bottom of the table and above Griquas who now prop up the rest of the division.

Cyle Brink opened the scoring for the Golden Lions after the visitors’ persistent pressure paid off. Jaco van der Walt converted as the away side took a 13th minute 7-0 lead.

Soon after Harold Vorster was yellow-carded, Kwagga Smith burst over for the visitors from the back of a rolling maul despite their numerical disadvantage. Van der Walt added the extras with the Lions leading 14-0 after 23 minutes.

Five minutes before the interval, Marco Jansen van Vuren scored a wonderful individual try which was converted by Van der Walt to make it 21-0. Van der Walt slotted a penalty shortly afterwards as the Golden Lions took a 24-0 lead in to the break.

The first try of the second half came only in the 58th minute after persistent Pumas pressure. Just after Smith sacrificed himself in preventing a try and was sin-binned, Kyle Steyn broke finally broke through the Golden Lions defence as George Whitehead converted.

From the re-start, the home side had their second in as many minutes courtesy of dazzling skills from their backline. Eric Zana was the main instigator as his break got the Griquas upfield before finding Ederies Arendse who in turn passed to captain Adriaan Coertzen who slithered his way past a couple of defenders and executed a brilliant finish. Whitehead added the extras to make the score 24-14.

Soon after, Van der Walt stretched the Golden Lions’ lead to 27-14 but Whitehead responded with a penalty of his own to cut the deficit back to 10.

Rohan Janse van Rensburg put the icing on the cake and secured the bonus-point as he collected an expertly weighted kick upfield to race through and dot down. Van der Walt added the extras as the final whistle was blown with the Golden Lions running out 34-17 winners.

The scorers:

For Griquas:
Tries: Coertzen, Steyn
Cons: Whitehead 2
Pen: Whitehead

For Golden Lions:
Tries: Brink, Smith, Van Vuren, Janse van Rensburg
Cons: Van der Walt 4
Pens: Van der Walt 2
Yellow Cards: Vorster, Smith

Griquas: 15 Adriaan Coertzen (c), 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Tertius Kruger, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 Koch Marx, 10 Andre Swarts, 9 Christiaan Meyer, 8 De Wet Kruger, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Pieter Janse van Vuren, 4 Shaun Mcdonald, 3 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 2 Abraham le Roux, 1 Liam Hendricks
Replacements: 16 Wilmar Arnoldi, 17 Stephan Kotze, 18 Sintu Manjezi, 19 Kevin Kaba, 20 Renier Botha, 21 George Whitehead, 22 Eric Zana

Golden Lions: 15 Jaco van der Walt, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Ashlon Davids, 9 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Albertus Smith, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Rhyno Herbst, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Jacques van Rooyen (c)
Replacements: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Sithembiso Sithole, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Robert Kruger, 20 Fabian Booysen, 21 Branco du Preez, 22 Aphiwe Dyantyi

Referee: Egon Seconds
Assistant Referees: Stephan Geldenhuys, Nico Schmahl
TMO: JJ Wagner