Griquas thwart Pumas comeback

Griquas notched up a 40-33 Currie Cup win over the Pumas, after seeing off a heroic fightback from the hosts in Nelspruit on Friday.

Griquas bounced back from last week's mauling against the Lions with a 40-33 Currie Cup win over the Pumas, after seeing off a heroic fightback from the hosts in Nelspruit on Friday.

Trailing by 27 points at half-time (34-7), the Pumas made a miraculous recovery after the break to keep the Griquas try-less and cut the deficit to just seven points with two minutes remaining.

Despite two missed drop-goals by Griquas pivot Earl Rose in the space of 60 seconds to seal the deal, the visitors held on for a deserved win after dominating proceedings in the first half.

The home side blew two penalties in succession to get themselves on the scoreboard early on, and instead it was Sharks-bound Griquas full-back Riaan Viljoen who kicked the first points of the match.

The Pumas made up for their two missed penalties with a superb solo try to fly-half Coenie van Wyk, who broke off a Rose tackle to race 40m untouched for the opening five-pointer in the 10th minute.

Centre Tiaan Marx nailed the touchline conversion to put the Pumas in front and it would be the first and last time the home side would lead the match after Griquas struck back with a well-worked try to wing Richard Lawson in the corner.

Lawson's try would be the start of Griquas' brilliant first-half blitz that saw the visitors chalk up another four more scores, with centre Jean Stemmet bagging a brace.

A yellow card to Marx didn't help matters, and the men from Kimberly posted 14 points in his absence to take the half-time score to 34-7. Game, set and match? Not quite.

The Pumas were a different kettle of fish in the second half, and – much to the disappointment of their visitors – showed they weren't going to roll over so easily.

First outside centre JW Jonker got the home crowd cheering again after following up an 80m counter-attack by wing Deon Scholtz who chipped, grubbered and then hacked the ball downfield for his team-mate to score a scintillating converted try.

Griquas replacement wing Rudi Vogt added another penalty to take the scores to 14-37, but the Pumas stormed back with two more tries in the space of three minutes, closing the gap to 37-26.

With the Pumas threatening a come-from-behind win, Vogt settled Griquas nerves with his second penalty to stretch the lead back to 40-26 with 10 minutes remaining.

With five minutes remaining, replacement halfback Hendrik van der Nest then went over from close range to score his second try of the match.

Marx nailed the conversion to set up a thrilling final two minutes, but Griquas hung on for the win.

The scorers:
For Pumas:
Tries: Van Wyk, Jonker, Steenkamp, Van der Nest 2
Cons: Marx 3, Van Wyk

For Griquas:
Tries: Lawson, Stemmet 2, Noble, Geel
Cons: Rose 2, Vogt
Pens: Viljoen, Vogt 2

Pumas: 15 MJ Mentz, 14 Deon Scholtz, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Tiaan Marx, 11 Shandré Frolick, 10 Coenie van Wyk, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Christo le Roux, 7 Jaco Bouwer, 6 Corné Steenkamp (c), 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Willem Serfontein, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Marthinus van der Westhuizen, 1 Dawie Steyn.
Replacements:16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Eduan van der Walt, 19 Reginald Kember, 20 Hendrik van der Nest, 21 Johan Jackson, 22 Carl Bezuidenhout.

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

Referee: Marius Jonker