Pumas make Province sweat

Western Province advanced to the semifinals of the Currie Cup competition, at the expense of the Blue Bulls, courtesy of a heard-earned 43-18 win over the Pumas at Newlands on Saturday.

The excitement for the small crowd of 14 503 on Saturday evening was more about who was playing than the way they played, for the truth is that this was match that became dull and then dreary and then passed into forgetfulness. But the players caused near ecstasy. At the start whenever the ball seemed to be heading for Gio Aplon, Bryan Habana, Juan de Jongh or Jean de Villiers the enthusiastic decibels would  rise. The loudest cheer of the day greeted Schalk Burger when he came on early in the second half and then another outburst of joy and wonder to greet Jaque Fourie  when he came on for the last 20 minutes. Western Province scored six tries but the one that got by far the loudest cheer was the one Habana, the sixth try when the match was done.

Hero worship was alive and well at Newlands.

Facing this heroic galaxy of stars, the Pumas were not overawed. They are clearly a well organised, well coached, well motivated side and they gave Western Province a hard time. For a start they embarrassed the Western Province scrum until Tiaan Liebenberg and Frans Malherbe came on.  They even won two tightheads off the home side. They made line-outs difficult, won turnovers, attacked with vigour and scored two tries against the best defence in the Currie Cup. They did many rugby things well but just lacked the sort of pace that Aplon and JJ Engelbrecht, for example, could inject into the game.

It was this pace that set up the first try. The Pumas were attacking but Western Province won a turnover and went left. Then they went far right. Electric Aplon took off and then gave to racehorse Engelbrecht who looked certain to score till he passed inside to De Villiers and the captain swept over for a try under the posts. Demetri Catrakilis converted. 7-0 after 4 minutes.

To climb above the Blue Bulls and into the semifinal Western Province needed to win with a bonus point or by 14 or more. That try suggested that this was going to be a stroll.

The next try confirmed the impression. Two Western Province penalties produced two line-outs and two mauls, the second five metres from the Puma line. The maul splintered and there was Deon Fourie scoring a try. 14-0 10 minutes.

The Pumas kicked off well each time they had to kick off. They usually kicked down the middle of the field high enough for a chaser to get there and cause problems.  They attacked with many phases and destroyed a Western Province scrum to get one of their own well in from the right touchline. An 8-9 took them to the line as Christo le Roux gave to Shaun Venter, who darted for the line, stopped by Habana right on the line. Jaco Bouwer, who had been playing so well, got the ball and scored for the Pumas. 14-5 after 17 minutes.

Bouwer was penalised at a tackle soon afterwards and Catrakilis made it 17-5, but  Carl Bezuidenhout goaled one for his side. 17-8 after 23 minutes.

After a dull period the game suddenly burst into life as Western Province went right and Habana came from the left and sliced through. Western Province went left and De Villiers played inside to De Jongh. In a flash De Jongh jinked to his right and raced through to score. It was a moment of breathtaking brilliance.

That made the score 24-8 at half-time.

The increasingly dull second half had its special moments. The Pumas grubbered for the Western Province line and Engelbrecht fell back for it. Sliding he grabbed to ball just short of the line and slid, under pressure, into his in-goal where he rose up and raced round and out into the field.

A penalty at a tackle enabled Bezuidenhout to lift his side's score to 24-11.

Then Schalk came on, but then Catrakilis went off, looking if he had had a knock in the head region. The Western Province flyhalf jinx seemed to be active again. Aplon went to flyhalf, Conrad Jantjes to fullback. Jantjes became the goal-kicker.

A penalty gave Western Province a five-metre line-out on their right. They bashed, went left and then came back right at speed where De Villiers gave to tall Siya Kolisi who kept going through tackles to score the bonus point which put Western Province into the semifinals.

From a line-out, Western Province mauled and then went left. Engelbrecht came off the tight wing and bobbed at the line, bouncing off three defenders to stretch and score. Jantjes converted. 36-11.

The Pumas have too much spirit to give up. They used a penalty to set up a five-metre line-out on their left, went right and then when they came back left they gave RW Kember and easy run-in for the true. Bezuidenhout converted. 36-18.

With less than a minute to go Habana sped down the left, over the line and round to the posts for loud cheering, even louder than the stunning tackle by Burger on JP Mostert.

Man of the Match: The obvious one was speedster JJ Engelbrecht who may just have played his last match for Western Province at Newlands as he heads north to Blue Bulls next season.

The scorers:

For Western Province:
Tries: De Villiers, Fourie, De Jongh, Kolisi, Engelbrecht, Habana
Cons: Catrakilis 3, Jantjes 2
Pen: Catrakilis

For the Pumas:
Tries: Bouwer, Kember
Con: Bezuidenhout
Pens: Bezuidenhout 2

The teams:

Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 JJ Engelbrecht, 13 Juan De Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nick Köster, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Adriaan Fondse, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 JC Kritzinger.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Tertius Daniller, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Jaque Fourie, 22 Conrad Jantjes.

Pumas: 15 MJ Mentz, 14 Deon Scholtz, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Dewald Pretorius, 11 Johan Jackson, 10 Carl Bezuidenhout, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Christo le Roux, 7 Jaco Bouwer, 6 Corné Steenkamp (captain), 5 Eduan van der Walt, 4 Willem Serfontein, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Pellow van der Westhuizen, 1 Dawie Steyn.
Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Brett Nel, 18 JP Mostert, 19 RW Kember, 20 Hendrik van der Nest, 21 Coenie van Wyk, 22 Siviwe Magaba.

Referee: Lesego Legoete
Assistant referees: Lourens van der Merwe, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Johann Meuwesen