The Griffons caused a massive upset in Welkom on Sunday afternoon by shocking the Toyota Cheetahs with a 36-33 victory after the game was deadlocked 12-12 at the half time break.
The Cheetahs raced to a 12-0 lead in the opening 12 minutes of the contest and it looked like they were in for a comfortable bonus point victory, but then the Griffons started finding their rhythm and took the fight to the team from Bloemfontein.
Daniel Kasende and Friedle Olivier each scored in the first 12 minutes for the Cheetahs. It took more than 30 minutes for the Griffons to get on the board and when they finally did, it was the hooker, Dandré Delport scored.
On the stroke of half time the former Cheetahs, Carel-Jan Coetzee, flew over under the posts for a converted try to see the game deadlocked at the break.
Gideon van der Merwe put the Cheetahs back in the lead 17 minutes into the second stanza, but Danrich Visagie narrowed the gap to four points with a penalty.
The Cheetahs fullback Tapiwa Mafura went in for a great try for the Cheetahs, but minutes later they conceded again with the replacement scrumhalf Jaywinn Juries scoring. The former Kenyan international, Thomas Ongera, had the hosts the lead with less than ten minutes to play.
Kasende went in for his second try with a minute left and it looked like the Cheetahs did enough. However, the Griffons got a penalty following a wrongly called high tackle after the restart and from the resulting penalty the Griffons were awarded a penalty try for the win.
Scores:
Griffons: Tries – Dandré Delport, Carel-Jan Coetzee, Jaywin Juries, Thomas Ongera, Penalty try Conv. – Danrich Visagie 3 Pen. – Visagie 1
Cheetahs: Tries – Daniel Kasende 2, Friedle Olivier, Gideon van der Merwe, Tapiwa Mafura Conv. – Ruan Pienaar 2, Abner van Reenen, George Lourens
Morgan Piek
