GWK Griquas kicked off their Vodacom Cup series campaign in devastating fashion when they hammered Valke 65-12 at the AR Abass Stadium in Kimberley on Friday afternoon. Playing in front of a crowd of about 1000 spectators in hot overcast conditions, Griquas took only three minutes to open the scoring with a penalty by flyhalf, Naas Olivier, which was followed by a try by young centre, Dewald Pretorius, in the 15^th minute, converted by Olivier, (10 nil), this being the first of four tries and the bonus point, before the halftime break, which saw the score at Griquas 37 and Valke 12.

Jeff Perkins, Valke’s flyhalf, narrowed the score with a well judged penalty (10-3), but this was short lived as in the 23^rd minute, Griqua’s scrumhalf, Danny Theron went over for an Olivier converted try, stretching the lead to 17-3. However three minutes later, Perkins slotted his second penalty, shortly followed by his third, a long range 38 meter one, making the score 17-9. In the 33^rd minute, Olivier, not to be outdone by Perkin’s long ranger, also kicked a 35 meter penalty, to give the home team a commanding lead of 20-9. But with about five minutes to the halftime break, Valke came back with a good drop goal, which actually ended their scoring tally for the match, 20-12. Griquas increased their lead when centre, Richard Lawson went over for a converted try, closely followed by another Olivier penalty and a Dewald Pretorius try, converted by Olivier, to complete the scoring session for the first half, with Griquas in a commanding 37-12 lead.

The first points in the second half came in the 7^th minute when Griqua’s flanker, Rohan Kitshoff scored the first of three tries in the half, which went unconverted, while the next points to come onto the scoreboard, came only in the 29^th minute when Trompie Nonthshinga ran in the first of his two tries in the match, both under the posts and  both converted by Naas Olivier. The last try of the match being scored in the dying moments of the match, taking the final score to GWK Griquas 63 and the Valke 12, a good five points for the home side.

Point Scorers: GWK Griquas; Tries Trompie Nonthshinga 2, Herman Pretorius, Dewald Pretorius 2, Richard Lawson, , Danny Theron and Rohan Kitshoff. Conversions Naas Olivier 8 and penalties Olivier 3. Total 65

Valke; Penalties Jeff Perkins 3 and drop goal by ???. Total 12.