The Toyota Cheetahs travelled to Kimberley with a simple instruction from their coaches to beat their hosts with a bonus point, however, the Griquas refused to die quietly and beat their visitors 44-31. The Cheetahs' bonus point earned secured their fourth place in the Carling Currie Cup Premier Division, however, if the Airlink Pumas beat the DHL Western Province on Sunday, the Pumas will overtake them in the log.
The first quarter of the match was played at a blistering pace with Cheetahs winger Daniel Kasende scoring the first try of the match down the touchline after just forty-two seconds of play. However, Griquas scored three minutes later when Zane Bester outsprinted several defenders for the hosts' first try.
With the action continuing Griquas hooker, Dandré Delport controlled a grubber to score in the corner just before Cheetahs' flyhalf Ethan Wentzel converted a penalty to level the scores 10-10.
Lubabalo Dobela added the hosts' third try which was the result of brilliance by Dobela who collected his own kick to score and extended Griquas' lead to 17-10 after twenty minutes of play in the first half.
The second quarter belonged to the hosts helped on by the numerous mistakes made by the Cheetahs making it easy for the hosts to defend their tryline. The Griquas led 17-10 at the halftime break.
Lubabalo Dobela converted a penalty after two minutes of play for the Griquas after just two minutes of play in the second half, whereafter, the arm-wrestle between the Griquas and fumbling Cheetahs continued.
The hosts scored their bonus-point try when Marco de Witt controlled a bouncing ball in the Cheetahs' twenty-two to stroll over to extend the lead of the Griquas to 25-10. Two minutes later Gustav du Rand scored the hosts' fifth try from the back of a lineout-maul.
The Griquas were almost scoring at will at this stage and following a line-break by Thomas Bursey, Connor Mahoney strolled over the Cheetahs' tryline.
The Cheetahs' celebrations when flyhalf Ethan Wentzel scored their second was quickly stopped when Bobby Alexander scored the hosts' seventh try to lead 44-17 and fourteen minutes still to play in the second half.
With ten minutes still to play, the match lost most of its structure, Ali Mgijima and Munier Hartzenberg scored two tries, securing the Cheetahs' bonus point, however, not preventing the hosts' 44-31 win.
Scorers:
Suzuki Griquas: Tries: Zane Bester, Dandré Delport, Lubabalo Dobela, Marco de Witt, Gustav du Rand, Connor Mahoney, Bobby Alexander. Conversions: Lubabalo Dobela, Thomas Bursey, Zinedine Robinson. Penalty: Lubabalo Dobela.
Toyota Cheetahs: Tries: Daniel Kasende, Ethan Wentzel, Ali Mgijima, Munier Hartzenberg. Conversion: Ethan Wentzel (4). Penalty: Ethan Wentzel.
Teams:
Suzuki Griquas: 15 Connor Mahoney, 14 Dylan Maart, 13 Zane Bester, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Sako Makata, 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Thomas Bursey, 8 Carl Els, 7 Marco de Witt (c), 6 Thabo Ndimande, 5 Derik Pretorius, 4 Dylan Sjoblom, 3 Janu Botha, 2 Dandré Delport, 1 Leon Lyons. Replacements: 16 Gustav du Rand, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Cebo Dlamini, 19 Albert Liebenberg, 20 Jac van der Walt, 21 Bobby Alexander, 22 Zinedine Robinson, 23 Jay-Cee Nel.
Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Litha Nkula, 14 Cohen Jasper, 13 Munier Hartzenberg, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Daniel Kasende, 10 Ethan Wentzel, 9 Rewan Kruger, 8 Jeandrè Rudolph, 7 Aidon Davis, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (c), 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Robert Hunt, 2 Corne Fourie, 1 Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Hencus van Wyk, 18 Laurence Victor, 19 Friedle Olivier, 20 Oupa Mohoje, 21 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 Michael Annies.