Griquas bonus point victory over Sharks ends their unbeaten run in 2011 ABSA Currie Cup - Rugby
The defending champions, Natal Sharks, fail to improve their record at Griquas home, as the Sharks were handed over a thumping, 21–point defeat to the Sharks. Griquas hosted the Sharks at GWK
Park, Kimberley, on Friday, August 6.
The Friday night bonus point victory over the Sharks is the Griquas second win in the 2011 ABSA Currie Cup competition, which has helped them to place themselves at the 4th position on the
table with their 12 points.
Griquas kick started the proceedings in front of their home crowd. Both teams battled hard through the first quarter of the game as the sides failed to enjoy a considerable amount of ball possession.
Sharks captain and number eight Keegan Daniel was sin binned in the 15th minute of the game, which allowed the hosts to press forward with their charge.
Griquas capitalised fully on the opportunity as they managed to score two tries. Griquas hooker Ryno Barnes scored a try in the 16th minute of the game, which was followed by their
fullback Rudi Vogt’s conversion to take the scorecard reading 7 – 0.
Sharks fly half Fredrick Michalak successfully kicked the penalty in the 19th minute of the game to register Sharks first points in the match. However, they failed to break the Griquas
momentum as they came scoring again through their lock Hendrik Roodt’s, 23rd minute try. Vogt followed with his conversion to leave the visitors trailing by 11 points.
Michalak scored his second penalty of the game in the 27th minute, as Sharks started to establish some momentum in their game. Sharks enjoyed both ball and territory possession
in the later stages of the first half, which helped them to get into the lead by the end of the first half.
For Sharks, their hooker Craig Burden scored their first try of the game in the 36th minute, which was followed by the Michalak’s successful conversion to reduce the lead to just
one point. Michalak missed on the drop goal in the 39th minute, before ending the first half, by successfully kicking a penalty, to take the scorecard reading 16 – 14, in favour of Sharks.
Both teams started the second half strongly, but Griquas was the better of two teams on the day. Soon they again established their control over the proceeding and came scoring through their
prop Lourens Adriaanse’s 49th minute try. Vogt followed with his conversion to again put the hosts in lead by 5 points.
Sharks substitute fly half Patrick Lambie’s 52nd minute penalty, kicked off the Sharks second half scoring. In next quarter of the game, both Lambie and Vogt exchanged penalties,
in which Vogt outscored the Lambie, and taken the game away from the Sharks.
Vogt scored four penalties in the span of 15 minutes, while Lambie managed to score just one, leaving Sharks with a huge lead to chase. Griquas captain and flanker Jonathan Mokuena scored
their bonus point try in the 73rd minute of the game, which was followed by Vogt’s successful conversion.
Vogt scored his fifth and last penalty of the game in the 78th minute to take the scorecard reading 43 – 22, which remained the same at the end of the second half. For his impressive
performance in the game, Jonathan Mokuena, Griquas captain was named as Man of the Match.
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