The match was a preseason friendly for both teams, however, it was the side from Kimberley that were the better of the two teams.

The Griquas crossed the whitewash on four occasions, with Ewald van der Westhuizen, Shaun McDonald, George Whitehead and AJ Coertzen all dotting down.

The Free State captain on the day Boom Prinsloo and his fellow loose-forward, Jasper Wiese, scored on their side of the half time break.

The Griquas in particular look sharp in their ball handling, ball retention as well as support running.

The team's new signing, Shaun McDonald from the Boland Cavaliers, was a good one for the team. The abrasive forward's fitness has improved tremendously and despite losing 13kgs since moving to Northern Cape, he remains a big and powerful unit.

For the Griquas there is a lot to look forward to for the upcoming season, while for the Free State a lot of hard work lies ahead. The important thing is that Carl Wegner, Michael van der Spuy, Boom Prinsloo, Junior Pokomela, Joubert Engelbrecht and Ryno Eksteen all got game time.

The winger JW Jonker looked rather impressive for the hosts when he got ball in hand.

Scorers:

Toyota FS XV: Tries – Boom Prinsloo, Jasper Wiese Conv. – Ryno Eksteen

Griquas: Tries - Ewald van der Westhuizen, Shaun McDonald, George Whitehead, AJ Coertzen Conv. – André Swarts 2, George Whitehead 2

Toyota Free State XV – 15 Jarik van der Walt, 14 JW Jonker, 13 Joubert Engelbrecht, 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Kurt Eybers, 10 Ryno Eksteen, 9 JP Smith, 8 Steven Meiring, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Boom Prinsloo (C), 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Dennis Visser, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Quinton Vorster.

Replacements – 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Kevin Stevens, 18 Reinhardt Esterhuizen, 19 Hilton Lobberts, 20 Sibabalo Quma, 21 Ntokozo Vidima, 22 Gopolang Molefe, 23 Louis Venter, 24 Heinrich Bitzi, 25 Dimitrio Tieties, 26 Jeandré de Beer.

Griquas – 15 Eric Zana, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Johnathan Francke, 12 Tertius Kruger, 11 Alvin Brandt, 10 André Swarts, 9 Christiaan Meyer, 8 Jason Fraser,7 Sian Koen, 6 RJ Liebenberg (c), 5 Shaun Mcdonald, 4 Pieter Janse van Vuuren, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 AJ Le Roux, 1 Liam Hendricks.

Replacements – 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Devon Martinus, 18 Wendal Wehr, 19 Renier Botha, 20 George Whitehead, 22 Koch Marx, 23 Enver Brandt/AJ Coertzen.

Morgan Piek/OFM Sport