Wildeklawer Griquas and the Boland Cavaliers shared the spoils, nine all, in the third Currie Cup match down in Wellington on Friday afternoon. Playing in unpleasant, wet conditions, where some poor handling due to the wet field and ball, were the order of the day, making for a very tough encounter.
Griquas, however, played good rugby in the first 25 or so minutes, conceding only two handling errors, but then they seemed to relax a little. It was only in the 8th minute that either team had an opportunity to put points on the board, but the long range penalty by Griqua’s flyhalf, Conrad Barnard just shaved the right hand upright, but three minutes later it was Boland’s full back, Justin Peach who put his team three points ahead. Three minutes later, Barnard succeeded with a long range attempt for a deliberate infringement by Boland leveling the scores at three apiece. Neither team managed to score any points until three minutes from the halftime break when Peach slotted a penalty which bounced off the inside of the cross bar and the wind helped the ball over the crossbar, for the home side to take the lead 6-3 and this was short lived as just before the hooter went Barnard snatched back three points for both teams to changeover locked at six point each.
Boland Cavaliers got the uneventful second half under way, which delivered only six points in the half, by way of a penalty each to Griquas and Boland. Four minutes into the second half, Conrad Barnard put Griquas ahead for the first time in the match with an easy penalty in front of the posts. This lead lasted until Lionel Cornelius slotted Boland’s penalty in the 22nd minute. Both Griquas and Boland were guilty of too many forward passes, especially at crucial times where tries could have been scored and added to this the visitors gave away nine turn overs. A tough match as both teams came away with two points each.
Point Scorers: Boland Cavaliers; Peanalties Justin Peach 2 and Lionel Cornelius. Total 9. Wildeklawer Griquas; Penalties Conrad Barnard 3. Total 9. Man of the Match; Lionel Cornelius.
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