Griquas opened their account in the Currie Cup by outplaying a young Cheetahs team in a bonus-point victory in Kimberley on Saturday.

Gameflow: The Cheetahs came into the game fielding 13 debutants,  due to positive Covid-19 cases in the camp, as well as several injuries.

The first half of the match was a bundle of errors as it took 28 minutes for the first points to be scored – through the boot of Ruan Pienaar.

It certainly was not a game that lacked for opportunities but, especially in the first half, both teams made too many mistakes in the red zone which cost them those chances.

Griquas went into the break 7-3 up thanks to Masixole Banda’s converted try, but the Cheetahs seemed to be getting into their stride when Gideon van Wyk ran in their only try of the game.

However, from there on the game belonged to Griquas as debutant centre Jay Cee Nel, who signed from the Bulls, scored on his first appearance before Mzwanele Zito muscled his way over.

The result was all but decided when, through their desperation to get back into the game, the Cheetahs ran through a couple of risky passes, one of which was intercepted by Eduan Keyter, who raced away from inside his own half.