Griffons book Currie Cup First Division home final

Oct 15 • General News • 2665 Views • Comments Off on Griffons book Currie Cup First Division home final

The Down Touch Griffons will face arch-rivals, the Leopards, in their second successive Currie Cup First Division final next Friday after they fought their way through to the top two in thrilling semi-finals this past weekend.

The home final for the Down Touch Griffons will mark their first since 2014, while they will participate in their third final in four seasons when they take to the field at HT Pelatona Projects Stadium on Friday.

The Leopards, meanwhile, will battle it out in their third consecutive final, but this time it will be on foreign territory after having had the luxury of hosting the last two in Potchefstroom.

The Down Touch Griffons, who suffered only one defeat this season, produced a solid display against the Boland Cavaliers in Welkom, which saw them dominate in almost every facet of the game, with the performance earning them a 32-21 victory.

The defending champions, who led 20-8 at the break, scored four tries to two by the visitors, while flyhalf Gaun Kotze kept the scoreboard ticking with his accurate goal-kicking for a personal total of 12 points.

The Leopards, meanwhile, held on for a narrow 26-23 victory against the Hino Valke in Brakpan. The Potchefstroom side started the clash strongly as they scored three tries and converted two, while they limited the hosts to a solitary penalty goal in the first half for an encouraging 19-3 lead.

The Hino Valke, however, fought back with intent after the break to score two tries, one of which was scored by flyhalf Warren Potgieter, who added two conversions and two more penalty goals to take his tally for the match to 18 points.

The fourth try by the Leopards in the second half, however, was enough to see them through to the final.

Down Touch Griffons 32 (20) Boland Cavaliers 21 (8)

Down Touch Griffons – Tries: Khwezi Mkhafu, Neil Claassen, Cody-Anthony Basson, Tertius Maarman. Conversions: Gaun Kotze (3). Penalty Goal: Gaun Kotze. Drop Goal: Gaun Kotze.

Boland Cavaliers – Tries: Elgar Watts, Sergio Torrens. Conversion: Divan Nel. Penalty Goals: Divan Nel (3).

Hino Valke 23 (3) Leopards 26 (19)

Hino Valke – Tries: Andries Schutte, Warren Potgieter. Conversions: Warren Potgieter (2). Penalty Goals: Warren Potgieter (3).

Leopards – Tries: Loftus Morrison (2), Juan Language, Gene Willemse. Conversions: Gerhard Nortier (3).