Pukke too good for TUT

Pukke kept their chances alive for a place in the semi-finals of this year's FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International with a 56-14 win over the TUT in Pretoria-West on Monday.

FNB Pukke came to Pretoria under pressure to secure their place among the first four teams and they were met by a determined FNB TUT team, who were desperate for their first win in this year's tournament.

TUT, who played with a new flyhalf after Chanley Williams replaced Deon Anderson, built on their gusty performance of last week against Maties. But they were eventually outplayed by the effective attacking game of Pukke, whose forwards and backs played together like a well-oiled machine.

TUT just gave in towards the end as Pukke scored three soft tries in the last ten minutes for a final score that was not a true reflection of the game.

Pukke opened the scoring thorough a penalty by flyhalf Cecil Dumond. Two minutes later, Pukke showed their intent when they chose to go for an attacking line-out after receiving a very kickable penalty but it did not work out

Late in the first half, TUT hooker Brendan Tshoshane received a yellow card which disrupted TUT's set-pieces.

After vicious attacking play from the visitors, fullback Willem Barnard scored their first try of the match. Dumond added the extras before slotting two penalties to give Pukke a comfortable 16-0 lead at the break.

The North West outfit kept on attacking early in the second half and eventually a gap opened for right-wing Andrew van Wyk, to over in the corner for his try.

TUT hit back four minutes later with No.8 Wikus Botes driving over the line for a well-deserved try. Fullback TC Losper, who missed three penalty kicks in the first half, converted the try.

The game then opened up with both teams playing attractive running rugby in the last 30 minutes of the match.

Pukke wrapped up the game after scoring the two more tries which secured their bonus point.

TUT got a late consolation score when wing Wynand Willis dotted down but Pukke replied with another try by Lola Waka to secure a thumping 56-14 scoreline.

The scorers:

For  Pukke:
Tries: Barnard, van Wyk, Dumond 2, Van der Wal 2, Waka
Con: Dumond 6
Pen: Dumond 3

For TUT:
Tries: Botes, Willis
Con: Losper 2

Yellow card(s): Tshoshane

The teams:

FNB TUT: 15 TC Losper, 14 Wynand Willis, 13 Lloyd Dryer, 12 Simphiwe Mtimkulu, 11 Johan Swartz, 10 Chanley Williams, 9 André Potgieter, 8 Wikus Botes, 7 Athi Mtya, 6 Adrihan Kruger, 5 Wouter Moore (captain), 4 Tiaan Fick, 3 Jan-Harm Steenkamp, 2 Brendan Tshoshane, 1 Jaques van Rooyen.
Replacements: 16 Ruhan de Kock, 17 Jacques Venter, 18 Johan Steenkamp, 19 Oswin Mentoor, 20 Nico van Zyl, 21 Pieter Botha, 22 Hoosein Legoabe.

FNB Pukke: 15 Willem Barnard, 14 Andrew Van Wyk, 13 Wenstley Scott, 12 Wouter Watermeyer, 11 Randall April, 10 Cecil Dumond, 9 Andries Mahoney, 8 Willem van der Wal (captain), 7 Savvas Nel, 6 Jaco Lotter, 5 Markus Fourie, 4 Grant le Roux, 3 Stephan Bezuidenhout, 2 Stoffel Duvenhage, 1 BG Uys.
Replacements: 16 JJ Koch, 17 Lourens Botes, 18 Victor Kruger, 19 Thabo Molete, 20 Theuns Kotzé, 21 Dewan Eckard, 22 Lola Waka.