.png){kind=small}
Blue Bulls 59-19 Griquas: a scoreline that tells you everything and nothing. Everything, because the Bulls were simply devastating in the first half. Nothing, because Griquas showed genuine heart after the break before the Pretoria machine clicked back into gear and closed the show.
From the first whistle at Grey High, the Bulls were relentless. Six tries before half-time, every one of them converted, and Griquas could not find an answer to the pace and structure that the boys from Pretoria brought to Gqeberha. The squad, stacked with talent from Garsfontein, Affies and Pretoria Boys High, moved the ball with a fluency that had the sideline buzzing. Try after try. By the time the sixth try went over before the hooter, the scoreboard read 40-0 and the contest looked finished before it had really begun.
But Griquas are not a side that folds. Their squad, dominated by Diamantveld players with strong representation from Upington and Curro Kathu, came out in the second half with something to prove. Three tries in a purple patch had the score at 45-17 and suddenly there was noise on the far touchline. At that point you wondered whether the gap could shrink to something respectable, whether Griquas could manufacture a story from the wreckage of that first half.
The Bulls were not interested in sentiment. They crossed for two more tries in the closing stages, both converted, to put the seal on a 59-19 victory that re-establishes them as one of the genuine title threats of this week. The Griquas conversion of a try to make it 50-19 was a small moment of pride for a side that refused to stop competing even when the mountain was unclimbable.