Pumas detroy Border's dream
Pumas beat Border 28-3 on an icy-cold day with a sharp westerly wind in Buffalo City Stadium on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Western Province (WP)snatched a late dramatic 27-24 victory as fullback Grant Hermanus landed a late penalty over the Golden Lions in their provincial tournament clash at Newlands.
In the other fixture, Welwitschias went down to the EP Kings, 31-18 at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek.
All the scores and scorers:
Western Province 27 - 24 Golden Lions XV
WP left wing Sibahle Maxwane opened the scoring as early as the fifth minute with an unconverted intercept try in the corner before flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff reduced the deficit to two points for the visitors. WP extended their lead when Willemse broke around a 5m lineout and barged over for an unconverted try. The home side followed that up with a fantastic team-try when scrumhalf Justin Phillips created space and with good hands from centre Tim Whitehead, right wing Khanyo Ngcukana dived over to hand WP a handy 14-point halftime advantage.
The Golden Lions was rocked early in the second stanza with a yellow card when scrumhalf Ricky Schroeder was sin-binned for tripping the Province fullback, that did not deter the visitors as they managed to cross the line for their first try through fullback Sylvian Mahuza which Boshoff converted to reduce the deficit to seven points.
Referee Rasta Rasivhenge whipped out his yellow card again, this time sending Grant Hermanus to the bin and the Lions didn’t need to wait for a second invitation to get back into the game. Sylvian Mahuza gathered a clearance kick at the back and ran at the home side’s defence, beating two defenders and waltzing over for his second try which replacement flyhalf Shaun Reynolds converted.
The game ended in dramatic fashion when Reynolds received the ball from the scrum and produced a beautiful dummy and sauntered over the line for an easy try, which he converted himself to draw the score level with just six minutes remaining. But a handling error inside their own 22m gave possession to the home side and their forwards pounced, putting the Lions’ forwards under pressure, resulting in the winning penalty.
Scorers:
For WP:
Tries: Willemse 2, Maxwane, Ngcukana
Cons: Hermanus 2
Pens: Hermanus
For Golden Lions:
Tries: Mahuza 2, Reynolds
Cons: Boshoff, Reynolds 2
Pens: Boshoff
Teams:
Western Province: 15 Grant Hermanus, 14 Khanyo Ngcukana, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Daniel du Plessis, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Scott van Breda, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Tertius Daniller, 7 Jurie van Vuuren, 6 Luke Stringer, 5 Chris van Zyl (Captain), 4 Eduard Zandberg, 3 Jean-Pierre Smith, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Kyle Whyte, 18 Meyer Swanepoel, 19 Eital Bredenkamp, 20 Damian Stevens, 21 JP Lewis, 22 Berton Klaasen.
Golden Lions: 15 Sylvian Mahuza , 14 Selom Gavor, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Jacques Nel, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ricky Schroeder, 8 Ruaan Lerm (Captain), 7 Robert Kruger, 6 Stephan de Wit, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Lourens Erasmus, 3 Nico Du Plessis, 2 Pieter Jansen, 1 Arnout Malherbe.
Replacements: 16 Johannes Snyman, 17 Clinton Theron, 18 Luvuyiso Lusaseni, 19 Derick Minnie, 20 Ashlon Davids, 21 Shaun Reynolds, 22 Jarryd Sage.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Pumas 28-3 Border
The Pumas virtually camped on the Border tryline for the first six minutes of the match and there was little doubt at that point that the Pumas pack was the stronger and Border had a tough encounter on their hands.
The Pumas lock, Stephan Greeff had a magnificent game at the line-outs while their flank, one of the smallest men on the field, Marnus Schoeman, played his heart out throughout and was a constant thorn in home side's flesh.
The only score for Border came from a penalty kick from their flyhalf, Oliver Zono, who had a good game.
The halftime score was 7-3 for the Pumas.
In the second minute of the second stanza Van Staden succeeded with a penalty from about 30 meters out and thereafter Border were never in the game as they struggled to hold back the rampant visitors.
And so it’s back to the drawing board for Border, who this season boasted the scalps of the Golden Lions, the Sharks XV and Eastern Province under their belts.
Scorers:
For Pumas:
Tries: Sampson, Fisher, Skorbinski
Cons: Van Staden 2
Pens: Van Staden 3
For Border:
Pens: Zono
Pumas: 15 Heinrich Steyl , 14 Bernado Botha, 13 Hoffman Maritz, 12 Wilmaure Louw, 11 Marcello Sampson, 10 Justin van Staden, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Carel Greeff, 7 Lambert Groenewald, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Hugo Kloppers (Captain), 4 Stephan Greeff, 3 Marne Coetzee, 2 Frankie Herne, 1 Simon Westraadt.
Replacements: 16 Francois Du Toit, 17 DJ Terblanche, 18 Jannie Stander, 19 Nardus van der Walt, 20 Emile Temperman, 21 Hennie Skorbinski, 22 Tyler Fisher.
Border: 15 Masixole Banda, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Sonwabiso Mqalo, 12 Sethu Tom, 11 Michael Makase, 10 Oliver Zono, 9 Bangi Kobese, 8 Billy Dutton, 7 Siya Mdaka (Captain), 6 Lukhanyo Nomzanga, 5 Wandile Putuma, 4 Lindokuhle Welemu, 3 Johannes Jonker, 2 Ludwe Booi, 1 Blake Kyd.
Replacements: 16 Mihlali Mpafi, 17 Buhle Mxunyelwa, 18 Siyamthanda Ngande, 19 Hendri Storm, 20 Nkosi Nofuma, 21 Siyasanga Ncanywa, 22 Nkululeko Ndlovu.
Referee: Christian (Christie) du Preez
EP Kings 31-18 Welwitschias
The EP Kings, who have failed to pick up wins in the previous three rounds of the Currie Cup competition, have made a number of changes to their line-up due to several players being called up to the Under-20 Springbok training squad.
Scorers:
For EP Kings:
Tries: TBC
Cons: TBC
Pens: TBC
For Welwitschias:
Tries: TBC
Cons: TBC
Pens: TBC
Teams:
EP Kings: 15 Courtney Winnaar, 14 Athi Mayinje, 13 Somila Jho, 12 JP du Plessis, 11 Lindelwe Zungu, 10 Simon Bolze, 9 Davron Cameron, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Sintu Manjezi (Captain), 6 Stephanus Nieuwoudt, 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Mthetheleli Fuzani, 3 Louis Albertse, 2 Warrick Venter, 1 Liam Hendricks.
Replacements: 16 Jean-Pierre Jamieson, 17 Mzu Sofisa, 18 Philip Du Preez, 19 Stephan Zaayman, 20 Chuma Faas, 21 Siphu Msutwana, 22 Yaw Penxe.
Welwitschias: 15 Riaan van Zyl, 14 Johann Tromp, 13 JC Greyling, 12 Darryl de la Harpe, 11 Phillip Nashikaku, 10 Shaun Kaizemi, 9 JC Winkler, 8 Roderique Victor, 7 Leneve Damens, 6 Rohan Kitshoff (Captain), 5 Ruan Ludick, 4 Munio Kasiringua, 3 Shaun Du Preez, 2 Gerhard Lotter, 1 Quintin Esterhuizen.
Replacement: 16 Petri Burger, 17 AJ de Klerk, 18 Joe Herrmann, 19 Zayne Groenewaldt, 20 Francois Wiese, 21 Justin Nel, 22 Arthur Bouwer.
Referee: Lesego Legoete