The Falcons recorded their first victory in the Currie Cup rugby competition when they beat the Griquas by 23-8 at the Bosman stadium on Saturday.
The Falcons scored three tries to one and led by 6-5 at the break.
The home side ground the visitors down in a hard fought contest for sixty minutes before taking control of the game in the last quarter.
Flyhalf Louis Strydom kept the home side in the game with two penalty goals in the first half. The visitors took the lead for the first time after sixty minutes through a penalty goal by Herkie Kruger.
Kruger’s goal was a timely wake-up call for the Falcons, who replied immediately with two tries. Both tries were scored after errors at fullback by the Griquas.
Zane Kirchner, who started at fullback for the visitors, could not hold on to a kick by Strydom in his own 22, which lead to the home side’s first try by left winger Mpho Matsaung.
Tiger Mangwani, who took over at fullback shortly after Kirchner’s blunder, made an almost identical mistake three minutes later that resulted in the second try scored by fullback Riaan Viljoen.
Griquas gave it their all fifteen minutes before the end when the Falcons’ replacement prop Barrabas Koen was yellow carded after an infringement, but could not penetrate the home side’s organised defence. The Falcons soaked up the pressure and managed to pin the visitors back once again to score their third try late in the match.
Griquas were also down to 14 men early in the game when captain and eighthman Gareth Krause received a yellow card for a punch in his 50th match for the team. – Sapa