The first of Saturday's Currie Cup matches sees the Griquas host the Lions in Kimberley and both sides have found wins hard to come by this season.

 

 

 

 

Griquas v Lions, Saturday 28^th November, Kimberley, KO 16:30 (South African time)

 

Referee: Marius van der Westerhuizen
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper, Griffin Colby
TMO: Aimee Barrett-Theron

 

Weather Forecast: - Kimberley

 

Griquas:

 

The Griquas made it to the Currie Cup semi finals last season but they begin this tournament at the bottom of the log after failing to win any of their Super Rugby Unlocked matches.

Of their 6 defeats losing bonus points were earned in 3 matches, away to the Bulls, home to the Pumas and also when hosting the Sharks where they lost by a single point with the Sharks landing a decisive score with a penalty at the death.

In the SRU meeting with the Lions the Griquas were given a 10.5 point start on the handicap but they went down 61-31 in Johannesburg, scoring 4 tries and conceding 9.

 

Griquas SRU Results

R1 Bulls (a) lost 30-23, R2 Pumas (h) lost 27-21, R3 bye, R4 Lions (a) lost 61-31, R5 Stormers (h) lost 39-6, R6 Sharks (h) lost 34-33, R7 Cheetahs (a) lost 28-9.

 

Griquas Currie Cup Fixtures and Results

Lions (h), Pumas (a), bye, Bulls (h), Western Province (a), Sharks (a), Cheetahs (h)

 

Lions:

 

It was the Lions who ended the Griquas Currie Cup dream in the 2019 semi finals but they went on to lose the final to the Cheetahs. In SRU the Lions were hampered by Covid outbreaks, 1 in their camp which led to the cancellation of a home game against the Cheetahs and another in the Pumas camp which led to a Round 6 home fixture going the same way.

As the Lions were on a bye last weekend their most recent action came at home to the Bulls in Round 5. They held their own in the first half to go in 15-10 up, before running out of steam as the Bulls came back to win 30-25.

That was the third narrow defeat for the Lions who lost their first 2 SRU matches to the Sharks in Durban (19-16) and the Stormers in Cape Town (23-17) and the 61-31 home win over the Griquas is therefore their only victory this season.

 

Lions SRU Results

R1 Sharks (a) lost 19-16, R2,Stormers (a) lost 23-17, R3 Cheetahs (h) cancelled, R4 Griquas (h) won 61-31, R5 Bulls (h) lost 30-25, R6 Pumas (h) cancelled, R7 bye

 

Lions Currie Cup Fixtures and Results

Griquas (a), Western Province (h), Cheetahs (a), Sharks (h), Bulls (a), Pumas (a), bye

 

Team News

 

Griquas: 15 James Verity-Amm, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 Eduan Keyter, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Zak Burger (captain), 8 Johan Momsen, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Cameron Lindsay, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 Hendrick Luus, 1 Nqobisizwe Mxoli.

Replacements – from: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Andrew Beerwinkel, 18 John-Roy Jenkinson, 19 Mzwanele Zito, 20 Carl Els, 21 Theo Maree, 22 Andre Swarts, 23 Enver Brandt, 24 Bandisa Ndlovu, 25 Ewan Coetzee, 26 Masixole Banda

 

Lions: 15 EW Viljoen; 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Courtnall Skosan; 10 Elton Jantjies (captain), 9 Morné van den Berg; 8 Len Massyn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sti Sithole.

Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 Ross Cronjé, 22 Dan Kriel, 23 Tiaan Swanepoel, 24 Jannie du Plessis, 25 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 26 Manuel Rass

 

Recent Head to Head

 

2020 Lions 61-31 Griquas (SRU)

2019 Lions 34-19 Griquas (semi final)

2019 Griquas 26-27 Lions

2018 Lions 62-41 Griquas

2017 Griquas 17-34 Lions

2017 Lions 48-43 Griquas

2016 Griquas 30-24 Lions

2015 Lions 29-19 Griquas

 

 

The Betting,

 

Griquas +15.5 points at 9/10 BetXChange

Lions -13.5 points at 9/10 WSB

 

Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.

 

Betting Angle

 

I like the minus handicap here. The Lions have named a strong line up and there may be some tired legs in this Griquas squad who are being stretched in terms of resources.

 

Bet: 2.5 of 5 units, Lions -13.5 points at 9/10 WSB

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