Griquas to avoid another mauling

Griquas, desperate to end their losing streak, have earmarked the line-outs and mauls as key areas of their Currie Cup Round Four encounter with the Free State Cheetahs in Kimberley on Saturday.

Coach Hawies Fourie, speaking to rugby365 ahead of the encounter with the Cheetahs, said if they still harbour any aspirations of finishing in a decent position on the standings they have to win this weekend.

"In the previous three games we played well - against the Sharks [a 24-31 loss in Kimberley] and the Pumas [15-33 defeat in Nelspruit], but we were not good against the [Free State] Cheetahs [27-34 loss in Bloemfontein]," the Kimberley-based team's coach said.

"We are determined to fix that," saying it is relatively easy to pin-point the cause of their loss to the Pumas last week.

"We had 75 percent of the territorial advantage and 63 percent of the possession," Fourie told rugby365, adding: "We simply did not turn our opportunities into points."

He described as "little errors" the causes - such as players losing the ball with an open line or getting over the line and not being able to get the ball down.

However, this week they are faced with a very different challenge.

"The key is to stop their driving mauls, as they maul off just about every line-out and they are good at it.

"The last game, in Bloemfontein, we struggled to contain their mauls. Then Steph Roberts was yellow-carded, which cost us dearly.

"Our focus this week has been on stopping their mauls and take them on in the line-outs."

Despite being winless, with just three bonus points to their credit, Griquas still harbours ambitious play-off hopes.

"We've worked so hard to get where we are and our mindset is still that we can progress to the knock out stages," Fourie said.

"The reality of it though is that we will be fighting for survival if we don't beat the Cheetahs. And that is one place we don't want to be."

By Jan de Koning