When Griquas meet Vodacom Western Province this Friday evening at Newlands they will have to be a better and more motivated side than that which played the Xerox Lions last weekend.

The side that the WP last met was certainly not Griquas best side, with their problems with  injured key players and bad form. Last weekend there were some exciting moments when Griquas had the Lions in trouble, but they seemed to have a couple of flat spots in their game when penalised by some questionable refereeing. They must learn, especially amongst the less experienced players, to keep focused and not let these incidents cloud their vision or stand in the way of their goal, and that unfortunately, is what what happens in many of our rugby sides. On any given day, coach Dawie Theron believes that Griquas, if focused, playing to their game plan and well motivated, are probably one of the hardest sides in the Currie Cup, or any other tournament, to beat.

They have proved over and over again, that they can be a force that will take their chances and have on numerous occasions won under extremely unfavourable conditions.

It will not be an easy game for them this weekend, but with nothing to loose, they could go all out and add to Western Province`s woes and deny them the chance of not getting a semi-final. Coach Dawie has opted to use his loose forwards at the start-up and has included, newcomer, Ruaan du Preez, playing in the No 3 jersey, has proved that he can be a very useful forward on a damper, more sponge-like softer surface. Griquas have lifted their game over the past three matches and are playing better now than how they have this current Currie Cup season and are quite capable of still improving their position on the logs. Athough a little too late for the chance of a semi-final, Griquas are looking as good as they did when they beat everyone at home at the beginning of last year's Cup. This should be a warning to all who they will meet in their last three games and should not be underestimated especially when their opponents know that they can really spoil it for them

It will not be an easy game for them playing the WP at home, who are showing much improvement and  better form now that a number of the top players are back from Tri-Nations duty sporting the Springbok jersey, although judging from their last game, they too are still experiencing some niggling problems and need to integrate their returning players usefully and with care.  They will be out to win with maximum bonus points to have any chance at a shot at a semi-final slot in this year's Currie Cup, although Griquas on the other hand with nothing to lose and would love to cause an upset and show the bigger Unions that they are a side not to be taken too lightly, and on the day, hard to beat. Griquas will have to curtail players such as lock, Andries Bekker who ran in 5 tries against the Valke at the weekend and watch out for the likes of Schalk Burger, who enjoys mixing it at every given opportunity. Other players to watch are the likes of, flyhalf, Peter Grant and Conrad Jantjies at the back to name a few of the top players who have returned to the WP starting line-up. 

The weather predicted for Friday's game indicates the possibility of rain, although it seems that whatever the weather, it will be heavy going for both sides as the field will remain damp and probably a bit muddy as it will not have had a chance to dry out to any degree by the weekend.

The Wildeklawer Griquas team for this  Friday's game remains somewhat unchanged except in the loose forwards with Frans Viljoen returning from a broken arm.

The Wildeklawer side is:

1. Regardt Dreyer, 2. Hans van Dyk, 3. Ruaan du Preez, 4. Wayne van Heerden, 5. Stephan Gerber, 6. Ruaan Kitshoff, 7. Frans Viljoen, 8. Gareth Krause (Capt), 9. Sarel Pretorius, 10. Conrad Barnard, 11. MJ Mentz, 12. Herkie Kruger, 13. Jaco Bekker, 14. Bjorn Basson, 15. Riaan Viljoen.

Reserves: 16. Dean Hopp, 17. Bees Roux, 18. Jacques Lombard, 19. Brendon Snyman, 20. Dougie Helmuth, 21. Naas Olivier and 22. Barry Geel.

The strong Vodacom Western Province side that we will be playing at 19.00 on Friday at Newlands, will be:

1. Wicus Blaauw, 2.Schalk Brits, 3. JC Kritzinger, 4.Adriaan Fondse, 5.Andries Bekker, 6. Schalk Burger, 7. Francois Louw, 8.Luke Watson, 9. Ricky Januarie, 10 Peter Grant, 11. Wylie Human, 12. Jean de Villiers (Capt), 13. Sirelli Nagelevuki, 14. Tonderai Chavhanga, 15. Conrad Jantjies.

Reserves: 16. Deon Fourie, 17. Schalk Ferreira, 18. AJ Venter, 19. Nick Koster, 20. Bolle Conradie, 21. Joe Pietersen, 22. Morgan Newman.