EP Elephants power past Griquas
CRAVEN WEEK MATCH REPORT: The Eastern Province Elephants kept their campaign flawless with a 43-12 win over the Griquas.
The win is the EP Elephants' second success following their hard-fought 28-24 victory over the Griffons on Tuesday.
While the Griquas failed to build on their opening 35-24 win over Limpopo Blue Bulls.
The match was far from evenly poised as Griquas struggled to manufacture a plan for a powerful pack of the Elephants.
The side from Eastern Cape took a 31-5 lead at the break thanks to impressive set-piece structures.
In the first half, Chris Poole scored a brace of tries for the EP Elephants, while, Matt Hillary, Ruan Claassen and Liyema Matyolweni all got their names on the scoresheet before the Griquas finally got on the board in the 32nd minute.
Stefan Terblanche's inside pass found Keano Windvogel, who had to beat defenders on route to the try-line.
With a 26-point deficit, the Griquas certainly showed glimpses of what they capable of and as the second-half commenced, they continued with the attack and bagged a five-pointer within the first minute through Steph Boshoff. The flyhalf's pace proved too much for the Elephants defence.
The Griquas started to find their rhythm with the ball in hand however a silly error halted their progress and the Elephants Abokila Klaas took full advantage of the mishap as the wing worked his way over in the corner.
Minutes later and another turnover in the middle of the park handed possession to Sabastian Brandt, who put on the nifty footwork before sending Liebenberg over for the try. Liebenberg added the easy extras for the 43-12 lead after 45 minutes of play.
The Griquas certainly fight hard to get into the match and enjoyed possession in closing stages of the contest. The side looked to set up a line-out however Corne du Plessis' kick failed to make the touch.
With less than 4 minutes on the clock, Griquas' individual errors continued as Jacquin van Wyk failed to collect the high ball, resulting in a scrum for the EP Elephants.
But EP could not break into the 50 point mark and had to settle for the 43-12.
The scorers
For EP Elephants
Tries: Poole 2 , Hillary, Claassen, Matyolweni, A Klaas, Liebenberg
Cons: Liebenberg 2
Pens: Liebenberg 2
For Griquas:
Tries: Windvogel, Boshoff
Cons: Boshoff
Teams:
Griquas: 1 Anrich Rosenstrauch, 2 Louis Vermeulen, 3 Rudolph Steinman, 4 Herman Visser, 5 Niel Swartz, 6 Sello Maketlo, 7 Quintin Immelman, 8 Stefan Swart, 9 Alnino Lorten, 10 Steph Boshoff, 11 Nolan Diergaardt, 12 Revan Muller, 13 Keanu Windvogel, 14 Jacquin van Wyk, 15 Elizandro Fredericks,16 Devin Steenkamp, 17 Tlotlo Mokomelo, 18 Pollie Agenbag, 19 Jessy Thomas, 20 Bradley Human, 21 D Jacobs, 22 Corne du Plessis.
Eastern Province: 1 Basi Malesu, 2 Gideon Serfontein,3 Bame Malesu,4 Kudzaishe Chongoma,5 Jarred Comley, 6 Ruan du Toit, 7 Ruan Claassen, 8 Ryben Dupont, 9 Octavian Muller,10 Jeandré Liebenberg,11 Siviwe Zondani,12 Brandon Wilkie (captain),13 Liyema Matyolweni,14 Abo Klaas 15 Sabastian Brandt, 16 Chris Poole, 17 Zuki Sali, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Matt Hillary, 20 Danie van der Merwe, 21 Hlumelo Klaas, 22 Tyron McCree, 23 Ambesa Zenzile