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Maart’s magic the difference for Griquas in Kimberley

football13 September 2025 19:40
By:Gavin Rich
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The two moments of individual brilliance that saw wing Dylan Maart score a brace of tries was the key difference for the Suzuki Griquas as they beat the Toyota Cheetahs 25-5 in their Carling Currie Cup semifinal in Kimberley on Saturday.

The win means that Griquas head to Johannesburg next Saturday to play their second Currie Cup final in the space of four years.

It might have turned out differently had the Cheetahs been more clinical and converted their opportunities while by contrast Maart in particular was excellent in nailing the opportunities that came his way.

His first try came in the ninth minute as he chased down a kick that bounced well for him after coming off a Cheetahs hand in an attempted charge down from inside the Griquas 22 and he ended up running two thirds of the length of the field to score.

That was just two minutes after lock Albert Leibenberg had scored his team’s first try after a scrum penalty had set up an attacking lineout and then the ball was spread across the field towards the left before centre Zane Bester used his pace to bring the attack back inside to the other touchline.

He created enough space for Bester who dived over.

So in the space of two minutes Griquas had propelled themselves into a 12-0 lead and at that point visions of the big win scored by the Kimberley team in Bloemfontein a few weeks ago started flashing through the mind.


However, as it turned out that proved to be the last points Griquas scored in the half and the Cheetahs struck back with their first try after 12 minutes to bring them into the game.

It was their powerfully built right wing Prince Nkimande who capitalised on a good turnover and then offload to blitzed down the right touchline to complete the score.

Griquas arguably got the better of the scrum battle in that first half, at least in terms of winning the more crucial scrum penalties, but they made a mess of their lineouts and it prevented them from getting the momentum they’d enjoyed earlier on.

At the same time the Cheetahs were halted by the good work that the home team did at the breakdown in slowing their ball down.

COMMANDING DRIVING GAME

The Cheetahs had enough attacking opportunities in the first half to feel confident at halftime that they still had a chance to win the game, but that dissipated as Griquas sorted out their lineout in the second half and became far more clinical.

As the game drew on the Griquas’ driving got more influential and commanding too.

However even though George Whitehead kicked a penalty just a minute into the second half to give his team a 10 point lead, it wasn’t until Maart’s second try that they had a clear advantage.

It came in the 56th minute after Cheetahs wing Nkaminde was perhaps lucky not to be carded for a reckless charge into the breakdown, with the TMO explaining that he couldn’t make out if he’d collided with his opponents head or not.

That meant it was just a penalty, but that penalty turned out to be well used by Griquas, for it was from the field position they got from that penalty that they launched the attack, in which flyhalf Whitehead performed an influential role in the creation with a good pass, that gave Maart his opportunity.

He still had a lot to do when he got the ball but produced a spectacular dive that dotted the ball down over the line on the corner flag.

Whitehead converted and then, when the game was done and dusted, kicked a long range penalty with the last kick of the game to make it a 20 point difference in the end.

With the ADT Fidelity Lions team they face next week effectively being a URC team, which makes it all seem a bit unfair, most South Africans without Lions leanings will be hoping they can use the opportunity to win their fourth Currie Cup trophy, the first of which was won in 1899, but they will need to work hard this week and make several improvements if they are to turn around the big defeat they suffered to those opponents in the final league game last Saturday.

Scores

Suzuki Griquas 25 - Tries: Albert Leibenberg and Dylan Maart 2; Conversions: George Whitehead 2; Penalties: George Whitehead 2.

Toyota Cheetahs 5 - Try: Prince Nkimande.

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