Wildeklawer Griquas were convincingly thumped 66-12 by the Sharks at Absa Stadium (Shark Tank) in Durban on Saturday in front of between 10000 to 13000 spectators, in the final round-robin Currie Cup Premier league fixture. Sharks led 33 nil at the halftime break and slid into a home semi-final spot against Xerox Lions next Saturday. The other semi will be between Vodacom Blue Bulls and Vodacom Cheetahs at Loftus, also on Saturday.
Keegan Daniels scored Shark’s first, of ten tries, in the fourth minute, converted by Ruan Pienaar, but five minutes later, JP Pietersen ran in the first of his two tries which was also converted by Pienaar. Pienaar missed the next conversion, after centre, Francois Steyn, scored his try in the 13th minute, putting the home side well in the lead 19 nil. Daniel’s second try, converted by Pienaar came up in the 24th minute, giving the Sharks the bonus point, while 12 minutes later, Pietersen ran in his second try, converted by Pienaar, making the halftime score 33 nil to the home team.
The second half started disastrously for Griquas as Albert van den Berg scored a soft try in the fourth minute, which went unconverted, but four minutes later, it was the turn of Springbok hooker, John Smit, to score a try, this time converted by Ruan Pienaar. Shark’s next try came from Jacques Botes, the third within ten minutes of the start of the second half, taking their score to the half century, but even so, at this stage, Griquas still had zero points on the scoreboard, they never gave up, but thanks to scrumhalf, Sarel Pretorius, who has had a great season for them, scored in the 57th minute, converted by Riaan Viljon and two minutes later, Naas Olivier scored an unconverted try, giving the visitors their points of 12. Four minutes from the final whistle, Shark’s wing, Odwa Ndungane scored a try, which he himself converted, but the final nail in the Griquas coffin came with two minutes left in the match, Keegan Daniels scored his third try, converted by Rory Kockott, taking the final score to 66-12.
Point Scorers: Sharks; Tries Keegan Daniels 3, JP Pietersen 2, John Smit, Francois Steyn, Albert van den Berg, Jacques Botes and Odwa Ndungane. Conversions Ruan Pienaar 6, Nungane and Rory Kockott. Total 66
Wildeklawer Griquas; Tries Sarel Pretorius and Naas Olivier. Conversion Riaan Viljoen. Total 12
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