The Griquas visited Newlands on Saturday and produced an impressive performance to finish deadlocked at 26-26 with Western Province in a tense Currie Cup clash.

The teams were failry evenly matched throughout but it was the visitors who took the early initiative and got over for the first try of the game.

After Griquas had sent it down the hands deep in their own territory captain Jonathon Mokuena put left wing Rocco Jansen in some space on the outside, he toed the ball ahead and sped past Danie Poolman before collecting the ball which sat up nicely for him to crash over for the try which was converted by Monty Dumond to make it 13-3 to the visitors.

The hosts hit back with a try of their own when flank Siya Kolisi was put in a gap by a clever inside ball from scrumhalf Louis Schreuder, he crossed under the posts unnopposed to add to an earlier penaty from Van Aswegen and draw the scores level at 13-13.

A drop-goal from Dumond put the Griquas in front but a penalty from the boot of Van Aswegen just before the break meant that the teams went into half-time deadlocked at 16-16.

Western Province pressed hard at the beginning of the second half and outside centre Johann Sadie was stopped just short of the whitewash but the ball was turned over and Griquas launched a counter attack that ended with Jansen cantering over for his second try at the other end of the field. Dumond's easy conversion made it 23-16 to the visitors.

The Cape side hit back with another try when Van Aswegen stepped his way through the Griquas defence and surged into the 22. His pass was slapped down but then picked up by Sadie who got over for the converted try which drew the scores level once more at 23-23.

The hosts tested the Griquas resolve with a period of sustained pressure in their 22 which eventiully resulted in a penalty being awarded for offsides. Van Aswegen kicked it over and Western Province had the lead but Dumond hit straight back with a penalty of his own and the teams were tied up at 26-26 with eight minutes left.

That is how it stayed as the Griquas produced an impressive defensive effort with Western Province doing their best to snatch a late victory to no avail.

The scorers:

For Western Province:

Tries: Kolisi, Sadie
Cons: Van Aswegen 2
Pens: Van Aswegen 4

For Griquas:

Tries: Jansen 2
Cons: Dumond 2
Pens: Dumond 3
DG: Dumond

Teams:

Western Province: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 JJ Engelbrecht, 10 Gary van Aswegen, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Nick Koster, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Wimpie van der Walt, 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie (captain), 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Adriaan Fondse, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Nick Groom, 21 Demetri Catrikilis, 22 Marcel Brache.

Griquas: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Richard Lawson, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Rocco Jansen, 10 Monty Dumond, 9 Shannon Rick, 8 Jonathan Mokuena (captain), 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Justin Downey, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dobson, 17 Jean Botha, 18 Frikkie Spies, 19 Jaco Nepgen, 20 Matthew Rosslee, 21 Earl Rose, 22 Fabien Juries.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Mark Lawrence, Cobus Wessels
TMO: Johann Meuwesen