Griquas bagged a morale-boosting win — their third of the Currie Cup season — with a clinical 32-18 victory over the Leopards in Kimberley on Saturday.
The hosts made their intentions clear from the start, racing to a 13-0 lead after 24 minutes, and never looked back.
Fullback Rudi Vogt was successful with the first kick of the night, bagging three points with an early penalty attempt.
Centre Jean Stemmet then went over with the opening try of the match in the 17th minute.
Vogt converted and six minutes later he added another penalty to give the home side a clear advantage.
Leopards wing Hoffman Maritz eventually got the visitors on the board when he dotted down in the 28th minute, and flyhalf Wesley Dunlop converted to keep them in the game.
Griquas, however, regained their advantage shortly before the break when wing Riaan Viljoen scored a try in the dying minutes of the first half, which Vogt converted to give them a 20-7 lead.
The Leopards, to their credit, continued to fight, and Dunlop took advantage of handling errors by the hosts to add six valuable points, slotting two penalties shortly after the break.
Striking back for the hosts, however, substitute Matthew Rosslee went over midway through the second half to stretch the gap again and keep Griquas on the front foot.
Eight minutes later the Leopards countered once more when eighthman Morne Hanekom went over for the visitors, but Dunlop missed the conversion, and those would be their last points of the match.
Flanker Davon Raubenheimer barged over for Griquas with six minutes left, and while his try was disallowed, substitute Wilmaure Louw stormed over on the right two minutes later for the bonus point.
Substitute Monty du Mond converted the try to secure the win.
The newly promoted Leopards were left trailing in last place in the standings with only five points from as many matches.
Scorers:
Griquas: Tries: Jean Stemmet, Riaan Viljoen, Matthew Rosslee, Wilmaure Louw. Conversions: Rudi Vogt (3). Penalties: Vogt (2)
Leopards: Tries: Hoffman Maritz, M Hanekom. Conversions: Wesley Dunlop. Penalties: Dunlop (2) — Sapa