Defending Currie Cup First Division champions the Boland Kavaliers slumped to their fourth successive defeat while last year's beaten finalists, the EP Kings, moved to the top of the table after a series of high-scoring fourth-round matches in the expanded eight-team competition.
The unbeaten Griffons made it four from four when they beat the Kavaliers 23-20 in Worcester on Friday afternoon, a result which leaves the Welkom side second on points difference behind the Kings, who had no trouble in beating the Border Bulldogs 56-5 later that evening in Port Elizabeth.
Saturday's action saw the Pumas scrape home 36-35 against the Valke in Nelspruit to move to fourth, while the Leopards, thanks to five tries from wing Allister Kettledas, beat the SWD Eagles 68-35 in Potchefstroom to go third, five points behind the front-runners.
Currie Cup First Division Log After Round 4:
TEAM P W L D PF PA TF TA BP -7 BP T Pts
EP Kings 4 4 0 0 156 60 19 8 0 3 19
Griffons 4 4 0 0 130 91 16 13 0 3 19
Leopards 4 3 1 0 143 120 19 14 0 2 14
Pumas 4 2 2 0 108 99 13 12 1 2 11
SWD 4 2 2 0 118 130 14 15 0 2 10
Valke 4 1 3 0 115 121 17 14 1 3 8
Boland 4 0 4 0 71 104 9 14 3 0 3
Border 4 0 4 0 48 164 6 23 1 0 1
Top 10 point-scorers After Round 4:
PLAYER TEAM T C P D Pts
Reinhardt Erwee Griffons 3 7 8 0 53
George Whitehead Kings 2 9 6 0 46
Karlo Aspeling Valke 3 8 3 1 43
Kurt Coleman Eagles 0 7 7 0 35
Elgar Watts Kavaliers 2 7 3 0 33
Carl Bezuidenhout Pumas 2 5 4 0 32
Allister Kettledas Leopards 6 0 0 0 30
Andre Pretorius Leopards 0 8 3 1 28
Wesley Dunlop Kings 0 8 3 0 25 JC
Roos Pumas 0 3 5 0 21
