Griquas drop in for famous win
Francois Brummer slotted a drop-goal after the full-time hooter to secure a famous 21-18 Currie Cup win for Griquas over the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
For the first time in the long history of South Africa's premier domestic competition Griquas beat the Sharks in Durban two years in succession.
To make the victory more remarkable is that the Sharks won in Kimberley - both last year and this season.
Prop Thomas du Toit's try four minutes from time looked to have earned the hosts a draw, but Brummer, under pressure from the home defence, kept his nerve to slot the drop-goal and claim a first victory of the season for the visitors.
Lourens Adriaanse had scored an earlier try for the Sharks, but Gouws Prinsloo kicked six penalties for Griquas, who inflicted a second consecutive loss on the defending champions following another surprise loss to the Pumas last week.
Hawies Fourie's side had started the contest well enough by surging into a 6-0 lead after seven minutes thanks to two early Prinsloo penalties, the first against Du Toit for offside and the second coming when a visiting defender was taken out in the air.
The Sharks had their first shot at goal after 15 minutes when Ruaan Lerm entered a ruck from the side, but Fred Zeilinga's 51-metre attempt drifted just wide.
But they had to wait only two more minutes to get on the board -- a poor forward pass after the restart was followed by Gideon la Grange not releasing in the tackle.
The three points were gifted straight back by the end of the first quarter as Sharks' centre Paul Jordaan was punished for holding onto the ball and Prinsloo goaled the penalty.
The first try, after 24 minutes, was in favour of the home side and their former Griquas' front rower Adriaanse, who carried over powerfully after a penalty line-out was won five metres out on the left.
After the conversion was missed, the Northern Cape side hit straight back with Prinsloo knocking over three more points when Jordaan was off-side.
The former Sharks fullback then missed a penalty, before knocking over another, this one after Etienne Oosthuizen was punished for a late charge on the Griquas' number 15, to extend the lead to seven point at the break (15-8).
Twelve minutes into the second half, Ederies Arendse was sent to the sin bin for failing to release Sharks' wing Odwa Ndungane.
Sharks' replacement kicker Lionel Cronje squandered a relatively straightforward shot at goal from a scrum penalty not long after, but then made amends on the other side of the hour, slotting over a slightly shorter kick that was awarded for an infringement at the ruck.
Griquas, however, continued to plug away and they had their seven-point advantage back again with 11 minutes to play -- Prinsloo slotting his sixth penalty when the Sharks' front row was again punished for illegal scrumming.
But a quickly taken Conrad Hoffmann free-kick allowed some space for the home side and Du Toit darted through to score near the posts, before Brummer became the hero with the last kick of the game.
Man of the match: You can look at the work of Marnus Schoeman, the bullocking form of Hilton Lobberts, or the scrumming of Steph Roberts - if you want an individual. However, our award goes to the Griquas tight five, all of them - Jaco Nepgen, Hilton Lobberts, Ewald van der Westhuizen, Martin Bezuidenhout and Steph Roberts - for putting the Sharks under so much pressure and setting up that last drop-goal opportunity by working the ball into position.
Scorers:
For the Sharks:
Tries: Adriaanse, Du Toit
Con: Cronje
Pens: Zeilinga, Cronje
For Griquas:
Pens: Prinsloo 6
DG: Brummer
Yellow card: Ederies Arendse (Griquas, 52 - repeated infringements, not releasing the ball)
Teams:
Sharks: 15 Jaco van Tonder, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Heimar Williams, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Conrad Hoffmann, 8 Lubabalo Mtembu (captain), 7 Etienne Oosthuizen, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Wiehan Hay, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Matt Stevens, 18 Marco Wentzel, 19 Johan Meyer, 20 Cameron Wright, 21 Lionel Cronje, 22 Tim Swiel.
Griquas: 15 Gouws Prinsloo, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Johnathan Francke, 12 Gideon la Grange, 11 Petrus Vermeulen, 10 Francois Brummer (captain), 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Carel Greeff, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Jaco Nepgen, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Nicolaas van Dyk, 18 Hugo Kloppers, 19 Burger Schoeman, 20 RJ Liebenberg, 21 Abrie Griesel, 22 Dean Grant.
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe
Assistant referees: Jaco van Heerden, Francois de Bruin
TMO: Deon van Blommestein