A 62-metre penalty-kick by Wildeklawer Griquas fullback Riaan Viljoen gave the home team a 21-20 (halftime 12-6) victory over Vodacom Western Province in an exciting Absa Currie Cup match in Kimberley on Saturday afternoon.The result marks the Kimberley team’s first victory of the season, and their desperate desire for a win was clearly visible in the number of kamikaze tackles that were meted out during the course of play.

Coach Dawie Theron’s charges complemented their physicality in the tackle with deft handling and strong, straight-running off the ball in a match which saw the lead change hands five times.

Griquas’ regular kicking ace, flyhalf Conrad Barnard missed four of five attempts at goal - converting hooker James van der Walt’s try after skewing an earlier conversion of wing Gavin Passens’ score - but fortunately for the home team, Viljoen was ready to step into the breach by slotting all three of his penalty-kicks.

Western Province points-machine Willem de Waal also struggled with his first few kicks, but he recovered to add two conversions and a pair of penalties to the second-half tries of flanker Francois Louw and prop Brock Harris.

Western Province opened the scoring after three minutes when Griquas captain Herkie Kruger was penalised for failing to roll away after the tackle, and De Waal chipped an easy kick over from just 10 metres out.

The home team scored the first try five minutes later when an errant pass by WP fullback Gio Aplon sent De Waal scrambling to gather the ball inside his 22. The Griquas swarmed the flyhalf, forced a turnover in the tackle, and then lock Wayne van Heerden found Passens out wide for an opportunistic score that gave his team a two-point lead.

De Waal’s 42-metre penalty reclaimed the lead for the visitors as the first quarter drew to a close, but when Van Heerden - a former SA Sevens player - accelerated through a vacant space in WP’s line with twelve minutes remaining, the Griquas showed good hands before replacement flanker Gareth Krause drove Vd Walt over for a converted try which gave the home team a six-point advantage at the break (12-6).

The third quarter marked a period of exciting counter-attacks book-ended by turnovers. With half an hour remaining, Viljoen stretched the Griquas’ lead by a further six points with two penalty kicks before a resurgent WP scored their first converted try eight minutes later through Louw from a driven lineout deep inside the Griquas 22.

The visitors further reduced the Griquas’ lead (18-13) with twelve minutes remaining in the match when Aplon streaked onto a cheeky inside pass from WP captain Gcobani Bobo just outside his 22, and raced 70 metres upfield before he was brought to ground.

The ball was quickly recycled and sent to wing Wylie Human on the narrow side, and he fed a looping Harris in close support who dived over to level the scores. De Waal’s touchline conversion put the visitors into the lead for the second time.

But the home team refused to concede defeat and when Viljoen blasted a penalty-kick over from inside his 10-metre line to reclaim a one-point lead with just eight minutes remaining, his team-mates dug in and defended with all their worth until the final whistle.

“It was a monster of a kick,” smiled Kruger after the game. Bobo admitted that the Griquas had been more committed than the visitors: “Griquas ‘out-passioned’ us. We made lots of silly mistakes, and never finished off our opportunities.”

The victory lifts the Griquas into sixth place with seven log points, while WP add a loss-margin bonus point to end the weekend with 10 log points.

Scorers:

Griquas - Tries: Gavin Passens, James van der Walt. Conversions: Conrad Barnard. Penalties: Riaan Viljoen (3).

WP - Tries: Brok Harris, Francois Louw. Conversions: Willem de Waal (2). Penalties: De Dwaal (2).

Source: sarugby.com