Spirited Griquas were outgunned by Lions

TAFEL Lager Griquas fought back in a strong second half performance against the Sigma Lions at Tafel Lager Park on Friday afternoon, but ultimately went down by a narrow 45-42 margin.

Though they came away with two bonus points it has to be said that a very poor first half cost the team dearly.

It seemed as though the home side were in a trance at the start of the match making basic error upon basic error. The line-outs were very poor, producing overthrows and throws where absolutely no-one jumped, something that is unacceptable in the professional era.

Once again, Griquas' struggles in the scrums on the tighthead side reared its ugly head and the midfield tackling was woeful. The half-time score of 28-7 to the visitors was a fair reflection of play.

Even Griqua coach Scott Mathie admitted that Griquas did not pitch up in the first half. “Obviously (it was) a very poor first half but I was very proud of how we came back in the game. That was a great show of character,” he said.

There were some bright lights though, according to the coach. “Eduan Keyter played well, as did Ruan Steenkamp in the forwards. In the second half (Hanru) Sirgel showed that he wants to play, as did (Raegan) Oranje, tackling bravely even though he was playing on the wing.

“(Luyolo) Dapula also looked lively when he appeared and (Cameron) Lindsay’s appearance and leadership seemed to ignite the forwards somewhat,” Mathie added.

However, the coach did not gloss over the glaring faults in Friday’s first-half performance. “You have to win the line-out ball,” he said. “If you can’t win your own line-out ball you are not going to be able to win a rugby match.

“So we made it really hard on ourselves by not getting line-out ball, then we could not build any possession and the Lions is not a team you do not want to give possession to because they are dangerous with ball in hand.

“So I felt the first half was a combination of lack of possession and then giving possession away, which didn’t make things easier for ourselves.”

Mathie must have been agonising at how close his troops came to winning this game, but at least the coach knows exactly where to polish the team during practice ahead of their next game.

“Really good character slowed in the end to come back,” Mathie told the DFA. “And we could have won it in the end, but we really have to improve our set-piece and line-outs and make sure we look after the ball better,” he said.

It has to be said that the injuries in Griquas’ ranks obviously played a role and one does not blame the coaching staff for only selecting two backs, but the fact that one of the two bench backline players was a wing makes no sense.

Surely when the Lions lost a prop with a yellow card, that would have been the ideal time to bring on most of the forwards from the bench to energise the pack, but it did not happen and the Lions were winning quicker ball at the rucks and mauls.

Griquas gave away soft tries at crucial times and basic errors broke the team’s momentum. However, on a positive note, the team showed guts and fought back well and Keyter’s try just before the final whistle was a gem.

Griquas now need to work hard on their set-pieces to ensure that the team that is the pride of Kimberley win at least three more games to nail down a semi-final spot, hopefully at home.