Currie Cup: Lions see off Griffons, Pumas subdue Griquas

Griffons 22-39 Lions

The Lions drew first blood in the ninth minute with an unstoppable maul that got JC Pretorius over the line for the try.

In the 27th minute, the mounting pressure was too much for the Griffons as the Lions picked and drove off the ruck and were over the line with Ruben Schoeman. Six minutes later, the Lions scored again when a grubber kick was stabbed through through and Boldwin Hansen was able to regather and score the try in the corner.

Shortly before half-time, try-scorer Schoeman was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle as the Lions went down to 14 men.

There was one more try before the interval and it came from the Lions despite their numerical disadvantage. They got the ball flowing through the hands and Jaco Visagie was in space and ran in the try from 50 meters out.

The Griffons got off to a great start in the second half as a chip and chase by the winger was regathered and Carel Coetzee was in for a try in the corner.

The Griffons got their second try soon afterwards with some slick handling by both backs and forwards. Hendrik van Schoor got into some space from an offload pass and was over the line for the try to reduce the deficit to ten at 29-19.

A penalty from the hosts cut the deficit to seven in the 58th minute, but the Lions restored the ten-point lead three minutes later. The Lions put the icing on the cake with two minutes to go. The ball was spread from one touchline to the other and lock Raynard Roets went over in the corner.

Griquas 17-27 Pumas

The sides exchanged penalties in what was a largely cagey first-half before Lubabalo Dobela spotted a gap and used his feet to get him through it by stepping a couple of defenders and going over untouched in the 38th minute to give Griquas the lead.

The Pumas hit back right on the stroke of half-time. It went wide into the hands of Diego Appollis who then offloaded to Deon Slabbert, who scored in the right-hand corner.

The Griquas restored their lead five minutes after the interval. Devon Williams cleared under pressure and the ball went straight into the hands of Dobela, who surged past a couple of defenders and then offloaded to Thabo Ndimande, who dotted down in the left hand corner.

The Pumas levelled matters in the 51st minute when Francois Kleinhans got over the line after a series of powerful carries from the forwards.

Tinus de Beer edged the Pumas in front with a three-pointer before they put the contest to bed late on. A high hanging kick was fielded by Kwanda Dimaza, who offloaded to Wian Van Niekerk and he went over untouched.