Pukke made to work in PE

FNB Pukke ran in five tries in their 31-24 victory over the NMMU Madibas in their Varsity Cup rugby match played in Port Elizabeth on Monday night, that after leading 19-18 at half-time.

The visitors were certainly not at their best and took quite some time to settle down, despite scoring two early tries by centre Kempie Rautenbach.

The Men from NMMU relied heavily on the deadly boot of flyhalf Willem Laubscher who contributed all of the Madibas' points. In the first half he slotted a snap drop-goal and five long-range penalties for an impressive haul of 18 points.

In the second stanza he went on to add a drop-goal and another penalty, but it was ultimately not enough for the home team.

Pukke coach Rudy Joubert - who guided his team to last year's final - must have had some harsh words for his team at half-time, especially after having lost at home last week to UJ.

They came out firing on all cylinders and scored tries by fullback Theuns Kotze and centre Wouter Watermeyer to put them in the driving seat.

However, the Madibas refused to budge and kept on relentlessly in their pursuit of a try. It was not to be, but the hosts came out of the match with flying colours against their fancied opponents.

The scorers:

For FNB NMMU:
Pens: Laubscher 6
DGs: Laubscher 2

For FNB Pukke:
Tries: Kempie Rautenbach 2, Seerane, Kotzé, Watermeyer
Cons: Kotze 3

The teams:

NMMU: 15 Carl van Niekerk, 14 Oscar Mazaka, 13 Hugo van Heerden, 12 Luvuyo Mhlobiso, 11 Williams Heydenrych, 10 Willem Laubscher, 9 Luso Booi (captain), 8 Samuel Borsaah, 7 JP Kellerman, 6 Thomasau Forbes, 5 Mathew Lutge, 4 Jannie Fourie, 3 Pierre Hammand, 2 Werner Kapp, 1 Tyron Williams.
Replacements: 16 Chariel van Jaarsveld, 17 Thabiso Mgomezulu, 18 De Wet De Lange, 19 Kemsley Wesso, 20 Wade Roos, 21 Christopher Juries, 22 Stefan de Klerk, 23 Hugo Lambrechts.

Pukke: 15 Theuns Kotzé, 14 Dane Johnson, 13 Kempie Rautenbach, 12 Wouter Watermeyer, 11 Johannes Seerane, 10 Dauw Steyn, 9 Andries Mahoney, 8 PJ van Zyl, 7 Siya Mdaka, 6 Jan Rose, 5 Markus Fourie, 4 Dirco Rautenbach (captain), 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 BW van Dyk, 1 Dewald Coetzee.
Replacements: 16 Stoffel Duvenage, 17 BG Uys, 18 Edwin Hewitt, 19 Jaco Lötter, 20 Willem Barnard, 21 Wensley Scott, 22 Andrew van Wyk, 23 Martin Dreyer.

Referee: Bongani Maloni