The Griquas controlled the majority of the possession in the opening exchanges and it took them five minutes to get on the board, with the winger James Verity-Amm scoring in the corner. The flyhalf George Whitehead made no mistake in adding the extra two.

Some seven minutes later the scrumhalf, Zak Burger, doubled the lead with a soft try under the posts, and Whitehead landed the easy conversion.

In the 31st minute the hooker, Reinach Venter, scored to get the Cheetahs on the board, and Ruan Pienaar slotted the conversion from the touchline.

With four minutes to play in the first half, Chucky van der Westhuizen crashed over the whitewash, and Pienaar drew matters level with the conversion.

Five minutes into the second stanza Craig Barry put the Cheetahs in the lead, while Tian Schoeman added the extra two points on offer.

Burger went over for another soft try to complete his brace and level the scores.

Jacques du Toit scored on his return to the Cheetahs to put the host back in the lead before Howard Mnisi scored to put the game out of reach for the team from Kimberley.

Overall the match was a very scrappy stop-start affair and seeing that it was a friendly match, the referee AJ Jacobs could perhaps have been a little less whistle-happy.

Apart from getting time on the part, neither side would have been happy with what they saw on Friday. There is no doubt a lot of hard work and fine-tuning to be done ahead of their Super Rugby Unlocked openers next week.

A week prior the Cheetahs beat the Griquas 40-7 after leading 33-0 at half time at Tafel Lager Park in Kimberley.

Scorers

Toyota Cheetahs: Tries – Reinach Venter, Chucky van der Westhuizen, Craig Barry, Jacques du Toit, Howard Mnisi Conv. – Ruan Pienaar 2, Tian Schoeman

Tafel Lager Griquas: Tries- James Verity-Amm, Zak Burger 2 Conv. – George Whitehead 3

@MorganPiek OFM Sport