In the weekend’s action, Suzuki Griquas overpowered Border Bulldogs 118-3 in East London; the Airlink Pumas were too strong for the Toyota Cheetahs in Nelspruit with 46-38 victory; and the NovaVit Griffons sealed a 79-10 triumph over the Leopards in Welkom.

The Valke showed their determination to outmuscle Sanlam Boland Kavaliers 43-26 in Kempton Park to move up to fourth on the log, and EP scored a morale-boosting 39-26 away win over the Phangela SWD Eagles in George.

After three rounds, the defending champions, Suzuki Griquas, as well as the Airlink Pumas and NovaVit Griffons are still unbeaten of 15 points. The holders have a better points’ difference, meaning they are placed first and followed by the men from Mpumalanga in second and the team from Welkom in third.

The leading trio are followed by Valke in fourth place on 10 points. Sanlam Boland Kavaliers are fifth on eight points, one more than the Toyota Cheetahs in sixth. Eastern Province (seventh) and the Phangela SWD Eagles follow with six points each, while Border (one) and the Leopards (zero) prop up the log.

Arguably one of the best performances of the weekend belonged to the Valke with their 43-26 victory over the Kavaliers at the Barnard Stadium, inflicting a second successive away defeat for the Bolanders and winning their second clash on the bounce after outscoring their visitors by six tries to four.

JP Immelman’s team had a good start and created numerous scoring opportunities to build a 26-7 lead after 25 minutes, before the Kavaliers fought back to score three tries themselves to reduce the halftime deficit to 26-21.

The Kavaliers were guilty of conceding numerous penalties and their struggles in the second half were compounded by a yellow card to Michael Benadie (lock). The Valke capitalised on their numerical advantage by scoring twice in 10 minutes, through Abulele Ndabambi (No 8), to effectively tale the game away from the visitors.

Valke wing Valentino Wellman also scored twice, while flyhalf Keagan Fortune slotted five conversions and a penalty goal. Prolific Sanlam Boland Kavaliers wing Lunathi Nxele scored two tries and pivot Garth April added three conversions.

Saturday’s other game, played in Potchefstroom, saw the NovaVit Griffons score 13 times in their 79-10 dismantling of the Leopards. After Charles Williams had opened the scoring with an early penalty goal for the hosts, the Welkom visitors kicked into gear by scoring six tries to build a 34-3 halftime advantage, which included a hat trick of tries by inside centre Jandre de Beer, who added one more in the second half to cap a fine individual performance.

The visitors completely dominated the Leopards in the second stanza and used their abundance of possession to score seven more times while restricting the hosts to just one, by scrumhalf Sylvester Hassien.

Fullback Kyle Cyster and loose forward Thomas Ongera each contributed two tries for the winning side, while Andrew Kota (left wing) and Aphiwe Stemele (replacement flyhalf) also joined in the action by adding 11 points each to the winning score through a try and three conversions.

On Friday evening, the Airlink Pumas maintained their winning start by scoring a deserved 46-38 victory over the Toyota Cheetahs in Nelspruit. The hosts held a slender 26-24 lead at halftime, but it was a different story in the second half.

The first 40 minutes was a thrilling affair, with the Free Staters opening the score through Neels Volschenk following a lineout maul, which was followed shortly by almost an identical try for the Pumas when Ntsika Fisanti was driven over. The visitors added another converted try through Carl Wegner, and a Cohen Jasper penalty goal.

But the hosts then started to hit their straps and during which time they managed three more tries through Clinton Swart, Wian van Niekerk and Darren Adonis, with Swart adding the extras.

Ali Mgijima went over for the Cheetahs’ third converted try of the half, which gave the hosts a two-point halftime lead, but the visitors started the second half very well with tries by Louis van der Westhuizen and then Michael Annies.

However, after that the home side took control as they responded with three tries, two by Jay Cee Nel and another by Ross Braude, to hand the Airlink Pumas a comfortable victory.

Earlier on Friday, Suzuki Griquas overwhelmed the Border Bulldogs by 118-3 in East London, with the defending champions relentless as they ran in 18 tries whilst restricting the Bulldogs to a single penalty goal in the first half.

In a one-sided affair, the team from Kimberley raced into a 45-3 halfway lead courtesy of seven converted tries, while they continued their dominance in the second stanza by dotting down 11 more times.

Dylan Maart (loose forward) and Gustav du Rand (prop) each helped themselves to three tries, Thomas Bursey (scrumhalf) contributed seven conversions and George Whitehead (flyhalf) six. The standout performance was delivered by Gurshwin Wehr (left wing), who managed four tries and a conversion to earn him the Player of the Match accolade.

In Friday’s third fixture, Eastern Province gained their first win when the outplayed the Phangela SWD Eagles 39-26 in George, scoring five tries to four in the process.

The first half at Outeniqua Park was even with both teams scoring twice, and only the penalty goal kick of Christian Humphries proving the difference as EP led by three points at the break.

Marco Fuhri opened the scoring for the hosts midway through the opening spell with a converted try, but EP hit back five minutes later to level matters. The Eagles regained the lead when Damon Royle went over for their second, but Humphries kept the Elephants in touching distance with his penalty goal (14-10). Despite a yellow card to CJ Velleman, EP kept their composure to go 17-14 ahead at halftime through JJ Scheepers’ try.

EP increased their lead to 32-14 courtesy of converted tries by Siya Nzuzo and Deon Plaatjies before Velleman was shown a red card not long after returning to the field.

However, Masikane Mazwi scored try number five for the Elephants and the Eagles could only reply with two late consolation tries. Humphries played a key role and contributed 14 points to EP's winning cause with his four conversions and two penalty goals.

In next week’s round four action, the Griffons host Griquas in Welkom, Border welcome the Leopards to East London, SWD travel to Wellington where they will face Boland, EP entertain the Cheetahs in Gqeberha, and the Valke are at home against the Pumas in Kempton Park.

Scorers:

Valke 43 (26) Sanlam Boland Kavaliers 26 (21)
Valke – Tries: Valentino Wellman (2), Abulele Ndabambi (2), Ezrick Alexander, Mbembe Payi. Conversions: Keagan Fortune (5). Penalty goal: Fortune.
Boland – Tries: Sidney Tobias, Lunathi Nxele (2), Michael Benadie. Conversions: Garth April (3).

Leopards 10 (3) NovaVit Griffons 79 (34)
Leopards – Try: Sylvester Hassien. Conversion: Andre Grobler. Penalty goal: Charles Williams.
Griffons – Tries: Jandre de Beer (4), Kyle Cyster (2), Thomas Ongera (2), Richman Gora, Aphiwe Stemele, Rian Olivier, Chris Hollis, Aphiwe Stemele, Andrew Kota. Conversions: Duan Pretorius, Kota (3), Stemele (3).

Airlink Pumas 46 (26) Toyota Cheetahs 38 (24)
Pumas – Tries: Jay Cee Nel (2), Ross Braude, Darren Adonis, Wian van Niekerk, Ntsika Fisanti, Clinton Swart. Conversions: Swart (3), Danrich Visagie. Penalty goal: Visagie.
Cheetahs – Tries: Carl Wegner, Ali Mgijima, Neels Volschenk, Louis dan der Westhuizen, Michael Annies. Conversions: Cohen Jasper (5). Penalty goal: Jasper.

Border Bulldogs 3 (3) Suzuki Griquas 118 (45)
Border – Penalty goal: Maxwell Klaasen.
Griquas – Tries: Gurshwin Wehr (4), Dylan Maart (3), Gustav du Rand (3), Sako Makata (2), Dandre Delport (2), Athenkosi Khethani, Stephan Smit, Marco de Witt, Connor Mahoney. Conversions: Thomas Bursey (7), George Whitehead (6), Wehr.

Phangela SWD Eagles 26 (14) Eastern Province 39 (17)
SWD – Tries: Marco Fuhri, Damon Royle, Dian Basson, Clive Kruger. Conversions: Sachin Toring (2), Braam Abrahams.
EP – Tries: Siya Nzuzo, JJ Scheepers, Shirwin Cupido, Masikane Mazwi, Deon Plaatjies. Conversions: Christian Humphries (4). Penalty goals: Humphries (2).

Picture credit: Valke Rugby on Facebook