Griquas defeated the Griffons in a promotion/relegation clash in Kimberley on Friday night to retain their Currie Cup Premier Division status.
Right wing Ederies Arendse scored a hat-trick for the Griquas, who demolished their opponents with a comprehensive 59-26 success.
Griquas have now secured their top flight status for 2018. The Griffons will remain in the First Division.
The Welkom-based outfit have won the First Division for the last two years, but their heavy defeat indicates that there is still a huge gap in class between teams from these divisions.
Griquas coach Peter Engledow believes his team “did not play particularly well” even though they were victorious by over 30 points.
“Set pieces are a massive concern for us,” he told AFP. He was referring to the fact that his side seemed to struggle at scrum time on numerous occasions.
The scorers:
For Griquas
Tries: Kruger, Arendse 3, Coertzen, Kruger, Wehr, Dorfling, McDonald
Cons: Whitehead 7
For Griffons
Tries: Davids 3, penalty try
Cons: Kotze, Pretorius.
Griquas: 15 AJ Coertzen (c), 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Kyle Steyn, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Enver Brandt, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Renier Botha, 8 De Wet Kruger, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 FP Pelser, 4 Wandile Pupuma, 3 Stephan Kotzé, 2 Marius Fourie, 1 Liam Hendriks
Replacements: 16 Wilmar Arnoldi, 17 Louwrens Strydom, 18 Sintu Majezi, 19 Shaun McDonald, 20 Tiaan Dorfling, 21 Johnathan Francke, 22 Eric Zana
Griffons: 15 Selvyn Davids, 14 Rodney Damons, 13 Joubert Engelbrecht, 12 Duan Pretorius, 11 Tertuis Maarman, 10 Jaun Kotzé, 9 Sherwin Cupido, 8 Codey Basson, 7 Vince Maruping, 6 Henko Greyling, 5 Neil Claassen, 4 Gavin Annandale, 3 Ruan Kramer, 2 Khwezi Mkhafu, 1 Barend Potgieter
Replacements: NA
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