Durban - The ability to run the ball out of loose play situations and with knowledgeable support from their non-carriers saw the Impala Leopards beat the Natal Wildebest 38-36 at the Absa Stadium on Saturday.

The visitors led 31-17 at the break in front of a sparse crowd.

Those that did come to the Stadium were witness to some truly grand tries. The final count was four goals and two tries to the Leopards and four goals, a try and a penalty goal to the Wildebeest. The Leopards' left wing Henno Mentz completed a hat-trick of scores before halftime.

Two of the early Leopards scores were gems. First centre Izak Saayman ran a zig zag course to score almost unchallenged and then Mentz embarked on a great run of 70 metres to score in the corner after the right wing had earlier got into the act as well with a neat try. With flyhalf Jan Viljoen converting twice it was 19-0 after 19 minutes.

The Wildebeest then unleashed a purple patch scoring two tries - one brilliantly executed by wing Clark Manuel - and flyhalf Kevin Williams converted both. The other try went to eighthman Zane Ansell (19-17). But another two tries, fashioned very much in the same manner as the first three, by wing Mentz, in completing his hat-trick, opened up a big gap again by the break.

Lock Werner Lessing added to Wildebeest woes just after halftime with a converted score and then scrumhalf Neil Cole wormed his way over for the Wildebeest with Williams missing his conversion attempt.

The Wildebeest got the benefit of the doubt from the TV referee in a controversial decision that gave centre Grant Henderson a converted try (38-29). Cole and Williams made it 38-36 with 12 minutes to go with another converted try from a lineout situation as the Wildebeest outscored the Leopards by 19 points to seven in the second half.

Scorers:

Leopards:
Tries: Henno Mentz (3), Rayno Hendricks, Izak Saayman, Werner Lessing.
Conversions: Jan Viljoen (4).

Wildebeest:
Tries: Clark Manuel, Zane Ansell, Neil Cole (2), Grant Henderson.
Conversions: Kevin Williams (4).
Penalties: Kevin Williams (1). - Sapa