Western Province have managed to overtake the Free State Cheetahs into fourth spot, and a semifinal place, on the Currie Cup standings after securing a bonus-point 30-18 win over Griquas at Newlands on Friday.

Western Province were effective enough to score the four tries to grab the bonus point and the win that moved them into fourth spot on the Currie Cup log.

The Cheetahs of course still have the chance to move back into fourth place on Saturday, but they'll need at least a point against the mighty Blue Bulls in Bloemfontein to do that.

For Western Province it was mission accomplished, but it was accomplished without fanfare. It was not a champagne occasion on a cold, cold night at Newlands with a tiny crowd present. Not champagne at all. Flat beer is more like it.

They got their bonus point, which was what they wanted but it was a poor performance. If they thought that the Griquas were in the same class as the Falcons they were making a huge mistake. They were a different kettle of fish altogether — resolute on defence from start to finish and capable of scoring tries. They got two tries and were within an ace of getting a third, which would have given them a bonus point. In fact if they had had the confidence to run earlier instead of endless hoofing downfield, they may well have done remarkably well — not well enough to repeat their upset of Kimberley but well enough to come close to doing so.

They are sturdy men, the men from Kimberley, dressed mainly in white instead of their usual hoops to avoid a clash with Western Province. They deserved better treatment from the Newlands crowd than they got.

It was a small crowd but enough to make a raucous noise during the silence requested to honour the memory of Rudi Paulse, player and coach, recently deceased at the age of 49. They were big enough to boo and whistle when Griquas kicked at goal. And they were nasty enough to hurl insults at the Griquas coaching staff in their glass box. It was not worthy of a great ground and a match between the oldest unions in the land. It also did nothing to honour Rudolf Paulse, a player and a gentleman.

One of the busiest people in the ground was the television match official. Twice he made decisions unique to South Africa that denied the home side tries.

The first occasion happened in inside five minutes. Western Province attacked and Sireli Naqelevuki, the massive Fijian now playing at outside centre and, it seemed, the only Western Province player capable of breaching the defence, broke. He burst through and passed inside to Conrad Jantjes who was over for the "try". The referee consulted the TMO who advised him that the pass from Jean de Villiers to Naqelevuki had been forward. Back they came 40 metres to a scrum.

This is a law variation allowed in South Africa.

But it was not long before Western Province scored a try which the referee could give. They made a penalty into a line-out and mauled. Luke Watson charged and set up a tackle/ruck. The ball came back to Ricky Januarie who sold a dummy to his right before breaking for a clear run to the posts. 7-0.

This may not have been a good thing for Januarie as he tried twice more to dummy and break only to be swamped by sturdy Griquas and his two-step passing and repeated kicking did nothing for his team's rhythm.

After a poor clearance by Jantjes, Griquas attacked and after missing two penalty attempts Barnard goaled two in quick succession to make the score 7-6 after 16 minutes.

Western Province had two attacking line-outs and a five-metre scrum before battering at the line produced a try for hard-working, tough François Louw. 12-6 after 25 minutes.

Up to now Western Province had been eschewing kicks at goal in their pursuit of try but it was a compliment to the Griqua defence that Grant kicked at goal when Gareth Krause was penalised at a tackle. 15-6 after 28 minutes.

That was the half-time score. By that time Andries Bekker had scored four tries against the Falcons. There was none of that on this occasion. Partly it was the determination and organisation of the Griquas defence. Partly it was Western Province's own fault as they thought they could run through brick walls regardless of what overlaps were available. And then there was the handling. Many, many, many passes went astray. At times the rugby was like a comedy act in a circus.

Grant goaled a second penalty early in the second half and lock Stefan Gerber was sent to the sin bin for repeated infringement at a tackle. When he came back the score had not changed and Griquas were only about 12 metres from the spot where he had been sent off. It was not glorious rugby.

It took a burst on the right by Naqelevuki, who was able to plough on regardless of the Lilliputians trying to bring him down. This time he passed inside to Tonderai Chavhanga who sped over. The right wing's speed and ability to beat a man go largely neglected in match after match. 25-16 after 56 minutes.

Januarie had a kick charged down and the Griquas went on the attack - right, left and right again and then wide right where they had a two-man overlap and just Wiley Human to beat. But as Riaan Viljoen passed to his left Human batted the ball forward.

Off went the referee to award the penalty try, which seemed a thoroughly reasonable decision but it did not stop the unreasonable crowd from booing loudly.

Barnard's conversion made the score 25-13 after 59 minutes.

It seemed that the bonus point they so sorely needed would evade Western Province till they went on the attack and after lots of bashing they forced their captain Jean de Villiers over in the left corner. The TMO took long before advising the referee that he could find no reason not to award the try. 30-13 with 12 minutes to go.

Griquas got their second try when they again attacked with variety and lots of quick ball before Krause surged over. 30-18.

Western Province still had time to score another "try". It would have been brilliant. It started on their 10-metre line on their left and went right with that man Naqelevuki bursting through again. He beat three men and then gave to Morgan Newman who sent Bolla Conradie racing over under the posts. But the assistant referee had his flag out and the referee suspected foul play and asked the TMO about it. The TMO was able to report that Bees Roux of Griquas had "attempted to clean out" Schalk Burger of Western Province who had then slapped Roux in the face. Back they went 60 metres for a penalty.

Griquas attacked now and Naas Olivier surged over on the left but was held up in doing so. The referee referred to the TMO but Olivier told the referee that he had not scored. That ended the match.

Scorers:

For Western Province:
Tries: Januarie, Louw, Chavhanga, De Villiers
Cons: Grant 2
Pens: Grant 2

For Griquas:
Tries: Pen try, Krause
Con: Barnard
Pens: Barnard 2

Yellow card: Stefan Gerber (Griquas, 45 - Repeated infringement, off his feet at the ruck)

Teams:

Western Province: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Sireli Naqelevuki, 12 Jean De Villiers (captain), 11 Wylie Human, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Luke Watson, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 JC Kritzinger, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 AJ Venter, 19 Nick Koster, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Joe Pietersen, 22 Morgan Newman.

Griquas: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Jaco Bekker, 12 Herkie Kruger, 11 MJ Mentz, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Gareth Krause (captain), 7 Frans Viljoen, 6 Ruaan Kitshoff, 5 Stephan Gerber, 4 Wayne van Heerden, 3 Ruaan du Preez, 2 Hans van Dyk, 1 Regardt Dreyer.
Replacements: 16 Dean Hopp, 17 Bees Roux, 18 Jacques Lombard, 19 Brendon Snyman, 20 Dougie Helmuth, 21 Naas Olivier, 22 Barry Geel.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Touch judges: Chris Healey, Roderick Barry
TMO: Shaun Veldsman

365

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