Griquas dig deep to defeat Pumas in Airlink Cup final at Nelspruit Rugby Club

The Windhoek Draught Griquas won the battle, a 21-19 win in the league stage, on November 4, and the war, 31-29 in the final on Saturday, in the 2023 SPS Airlink Cup.

The Airlink Cup final was played at Nelspruit Rugby Club.

The Griquas were undefeated in the competition.

The Kimberley team proved to be the hungrier of the two and their never-say-die attitude secured them the trophy.

It was a tight match, with the teams never being separated by more than nine points. But the Griquas made better use of the opportunities and were the deserved champions.

Both sides made too many unforced errors. But what the rugby lacked in quality, it made up for in excitement.

A huge, partisan Pumas crowd cheered their team on, but it was not to be for the Mpumalanga boys. Despite their massive effort, the Pumas did not have that edge to win the final. The Griquas did; they dug deep when it was needed and hit back every time the Pumas took the lead.

Sako Makata scored first for the visitors from a turnover ball in the 17th minute and the captain, George Whitehead, slotted the conversion.

The Pumas scored soon afterwards, with the man of the match, Etienne Taljaard, finding himself on the receiving end of a deft cross kick from

Clinton Swart to score. Swart kicked the conversion.

Taljaard got his second try just before half-time when he was gifted a gap in the Griquas’ defence. Swart nailed the conversion for a 14-7 lead at half-time.

The Kimberley team hit early in the second half, with Janco Uys claiming a well-worked team try. The Griquas put the ball through various phases from a halfway line scrum, with Uys finishing off. Whitehead’s boot took the score to 14-14.

A Swart penalty kick regained the lead for the home team three minutes later.

But the Griquas simply came right back at the Pumas, and in the 51st minute, Uys powered over the try line his second five-pointer. Whitehead missed the conversion.

A Gustav du Rand try and Whitehead conversion try gave the visitors a nine-point lead with 20 minutes remaining.

The Pumas narrowed the gap when Llewellyn Classen scored off a maul on 66 minutes. Swart’s conversion kick bounced off the left upright.

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With nine minutes left and the score 26-22 in the Griquas’ favour, Taljaard’s third try lifted the roof off the grandstand. Again he collected a cross-field chip kick by Swart. The ball beat the defence and the winger scored the try. Swart’s conversion gave the Pumas a 29-26 lead.

But the Griquas were not done yet. Again they were soon on the attack, and the Pumas’ defence could not cope. Xavier Swartbooi scored the match- and tournament-winning try.

Whitehead had no problem adding the two points. The scoreboard read 31-29 to the visitors.
It was a sweet victory for the Griquas over their rivals, the Pumas. They never gave up and it was a superb effort from the champions of the Airlink Cup.

Airlink Pumas’ coach, Jimmy Stonehouse, said his team was not great on the day. “We could not handle the breakdowns. Our individual error rate was too high and these unforced errors killed us. Our set pieces were not bad, but on the day, the Griquas were better than us overall. Our defence was poor; we were simply not good enough,” he said.

The lock, Malembe Mpofu, was stretchered off the field with a suspected injury early in the match. It seemed at the time that he could have suffered a severe injury.

“He was discharged from hospital on Tuesday. There are no complications, despite the initial possible severity of an injury. He walked out of hospital and is fine,” said the coach.

• The NonaVit Griffons defeated the Leopards 50-26 in the curtain-raiser Airlink Shield final.