Griquas hold on defeat courageous Boland in 14-try thriller in Kimberly

The contest started with the teams swapping great counter-attack tries. First, Griquas broke out of their half and found winger Dylan Maart on the touchline, who showed pace and skill to run inside and out to go over in the corner.  Minutes later, Boland responded via Lunathi Nxele, who hit a gap at pace and jinked his way to the line.

Boland took the lead again with a successful lineout maul from 5m out and flanker Carl Els fell over the whitewash for the try.

Griquas bounced back via the dancing Gurshwin Wehr, who twisted and turned his way off the left wing to dot down.

But then the floodgates opened. Boland scored four tries in quick succession via centre, David Britz - who scooped up a ball that bounced off Maart's head - winger Marcqiewn Titus and two from Sevens star Donavan Don to move ahead 34-19 at the break.

In the second stanza, three quick tries from Griquas brought the hosts right back into the game. First, a brace from scrumhalf Caleb Abrahams brought them in touching distance, then Wehr skipped over for his brace and George Whitehead's extras saw them take the lead 36-34.

Boland finally stopped the rot when they capitalised on a handling error, with flyer Don scampering 60m to get his hat-trick.

But the hosts then regained the lead via another powerful maul, taking the score to 41-39. They put the final nail in the coffin when replacement IG Prinsloo crashed over from close range.