Griquas humiliate Blue Bulls at Loftus

The Tafel Lager Griquas returned to the top of the Currie Cup table on Saturday as they travelled to Loftus Versfeld to complete a day of upsets with a 37-15 victory over the Vodacom Blue Bulls.

The Kimberley side put a massive dent in the Bulls' hopes for a playoff spot and returned to their impressive run this season by dominating the Bulls up front and outplaying their hosts in every aspect.

They sit comfortably on top of the log this weekend, having played a game more than the second-placed Xerox Golden Lions, and are on course for a home semifinal if they continue in this vein.

And on the evidence of this game alone, they deserve to be taken seriously as genuine Currie Cup contenders this year, especially as their dominance earned them a bonus point away from home and a perfect response for their big loss to the Cheetahs last weekend.

For the Bulls it was a night where it certainly couldn't have gone worse.

#CurrieCup - RESULT:

Blue Bulls 15-37 Griquas

Loftus was not a happy crowd today as the Griquas inflicted a heavy defeat on the Blue Bulls to move to the top of the log. pic.twitter.com/llx15MBBR8

— SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) August 3, 2019

While they opened the game with a magnificent try by Rosko Specman, they also watched the winger butcher three clear scoring chances in uncharacteristic fashion, while indiscipline cost them another try when Manie Libbok scored in the second half, only to have the try disallowed.

They will now fight to stop having to play promotion-relegation matches in this competition and with the Phakisa Pumas winning earlier in the day, are firmly rooted at the bottom of the log, having won just one of their four games in the competition this year.

Two tries for the Griquas' Zak Burger capped an exceptional individual performance for the halfback, while George Whitehead's game management and the impressive Andre Swarts in the midfield made the Bulls' lives a misery.

The heroes for Griquas were the flanks Gidoen van der Merwe and Sias Koen, whose workrate was exceptional on the night and went a long way to securing the big victory for their team.

SPECMAN BLUNDERS

And while Griquas march on now with real hopes of a home playoff, the Bulls will be scratching to survive, with just games against the unbeaten Golden Lions away and Cell C Sharks at home to look forward to.

While their Super Rugby campaign was impressive at times, the Currie Cup campaign has exposed major flaws in the side and really questioned the pedigree of some of their depth in the competition.

The Bulls were at least smiling early on as Dylan Sage found a massive hole in the defence early on to sprint downfield, using an inside switch to send Specman away for the opening try.

But from then on the Bulls were under the pump, as the visitors started dominating up front and started clawing their way back into the game.

It took a break from Swarts to give Burger his first try as the Bulls' defence was opened up with ease and a few minutes later a blindside move saw Ederies Arendse slip the ball inside again to Burger as the Griquas stretched their lead.

Whitehead added a penalty just before the break to give the visitors a 20-10 lead at the break.

Things got worse for the Bulls as winger Eduan Keyter went in early in the second half, courtesy of a stolen lineout ball and some poor defence, with Burger popping the blindside pass to the winger to stretch the lead.

It became worse when Specman first dropped a cross kick with an open tryline, and then later on dropped the ball over the line when he simply needed to dot down. A final nail in the coffin in the last few minutes came when he knocked the ball on in a position he would normally have scored from.

But at 27-10 down, the Bulls did find some joy as Marco van Staden rumbled over from the back of a lineout maul, but their comeback was stunted when Wian Vosloo took out Michal Haznar in defence as Manie Libbok went through to score, and television replays nullified the try that would have given the Bulls a chance late in the game.

Whitehead's penalty extended the lead for Griquas and a late try by Victor Sekekete capped an inspirational performance for Brent Janse van Rensburg's side.

Scorers

Vodacom Blue Bulls – Tries:Rosco Specman, Marco van Staden. Conversions:Manie Libbok. Penalties:Libbok

Tafel Lager Griquas – Tries: Zak burger (2), Eduan Keyter, Victor Sekekete. Conversions:George Whitehead (4) Penalties: Whitehead (3).