The Pumas hosted the SWD Eagles in Witbank for the final of the Currie Cup First Division tonight. The Pumas won comfortably by 47 / 19, after already leading 21 / 9 at half time.
The six-tries-to-one win was every bit as convincing as the scoreline suggests.
And now the men from Mpumalanga can focus their attention on promotion to the Currie Cup Premier Division, as they meet the Boland Cavaliers in back-to-back promotion-relegation games in the next fortnight.
But back to Friday and the sublime performance by a Pumas team that has dominated the First Division this season, also showing their class with some superb play in the Final.
Pumas captain Hannes Franklin was understandably delighted, but said the hard work – to gain promotion – starts now and the celebrations will be tempered.
Bevin Fortuin, the Eagles captain, said he was proud of his team, despite the defeat. Fortuin pointed to the first half in which they gifted the home team a few soft tries with silly mistakes.
Fortuin said his team will now shift their focus to the promotion-relegation matches against the Leopards, also in the next fortnight.
After a frantic start, in which both teams showed their willingness to carry the ball in hand, Ricardo Croy opened the scoring with a penalty in the third minute.
Braam Pretorius had a chance to level matters four minutes later, but his shot was off target, as the home team continued their all-out attack.
It went from bad to worse for the Pumas minutes later when prop Ronnie Uys was yellow carded for a shoulder charge and Croy slotted the penalty for a 6-0 lead.
The Pumas managed to pull it back to 3-6, when Pretorius slotted a penalty in the 11th minute – the Eagles penalised for holding on in the tackle.
Their all-action approach soon paid dividends, as they went for a line-out instead of kicking for the posts. The maul initially went sideways, but the Pumas soon gathered momentum and they rumbled over – with Hannes Franklin credited with the try. Pretorius added the touchline conversion and suddenly the Pumas took a 10-6 lead – while being a man down.
However, at a scrum from the restart the Pumas were penalised for ‘standing up’ in the scrum and Croy made it 9-10 with 18 minutes gone.
Uys, in the first scrum after his return from the sin-bin, made amends by annihilating an Eagles scrum and securing a turnover.
And from that scrum they took the ball through a series of pick-‘n-drives, before the hooker, Franklin, burst over for his second try. The call did go the TMO, but it didn’t take him long to confirm the score. Pretorius’s conversion attempt was wide, but at 15-9 the Pumas were beginning to look menacing.
Just on the half-hour mark the Pumas won another penalty for an infringement at the breakdown and Pretorius made it 18-9.
Croy hit the upright with a penalty attempt in the 33rd minute, as the Pumas maintained their stranglehold on the game.
The Pumas stretched their lead to 21-9 when flyhalf Valentine van Wyk landed a sweetly-struck drop-goal with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.
Bevin Fortuin had a shot at goal from 50 metres out right on half-time, but he was well short and the Pumas took that 12-point lead into the break.
The Eagles, at the start of the second half, threw everything they had at the Pumas in an effort to closer the gap.
Their first real chance at scoring came in the 56th minute, when replacement Gaffie du Toit landed a penalty from near 50 metres out – 12-21.
But from the restart a Du Toit mistake, when the ball was kicked directly into touch after being carried back into the 22, gave the Pumas an attacking line-out. And prop Ronnie Uys galloped through a gaping hole in the defence for try number three. Pretorius landed the conversion and at 28-12 it left the Eagles with a mountain to climb.
And when wing Allistair Kettledas flopped over for the fourth try as the final quarter approached – when the Pumas countered with devastating affect after another Eagles mistake – the game had ended as a contest. Pretorius failed with the conversion, but 33-12 meant the Eagles required three converted tries just to draw level.
Kettledas scored his second, and the fifth for the Pumas, in the 73rd minute – from a cross-field kick. The conversion made it 40-12, as the demoralised Eagles outfit could only hang their heads.
The Eagles’ dismal even was summed up in a movement five minutes from time, when Springbok fullback Bevin Fortuin broke clean through, only to pass to a Pumas player instead of one of his teammates.
There was eventually a consolation score, with wing Norman Nelson scoring the Eagles’ solitary try in the 79th minute – but as they say in the classics: ‘It was far too little, too late.’
To rub salt into the festering Eagles wounds replacement Ashwin Scott scored a sixth try right on the final whistle. The conversion made the final score 47-19
Points:
Pumas: 2 Penalties & 4 Conversions Braam Pretorius, 1 Drop Goal Valentine van Wyk, 2 Tries Hannes Franklin, 1 Try Ronnie Uys, 2 Tries Allistair Kettledas, 1 Try Ashwin Scott
Eagles: 3 Penalties Ricardo Croy, 1 Penalty & 1 Conversion Gaffie du Toit, 1 Try Norman Nelson
Teams:
Pumas: 15 MJ Mentz, 14 Braam Pretorius, 13 Shaun Venter, 12 Hyron Thyse, 11 Allistair Kettledas, 10 Valentine van Wyk, 9 Jacques Coetzee, 8 Doppies le Roux, 7 Pieter Meyer, 6 Jaco Bouwer, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Eduan van der Walt, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Ronnie Uys.
Replacements: 16 Dee-Jay Terblanche, 17 Dawie Steyn, 18 Savage van Heerden, 19 Corné Steenkamp, 20 Martin Sithole, 21 Juan Visser, 22 Ashwin Scott.
SWD Eagles: 15 Bevin Fortuin (captain), 14 Norman Nelson, 13 Bobby Joubert, 12 Isak Saayman, 11 Baldwin McBean, 10 Ricardo Croy, 9 Jandré Blom, 8 Jody Burch, 7 Jacques Engelbrecht, 6 Victor Joubert, 5 Henry Grimes, 4 Giant Mtyanda, 3 Tiaan de Kock, 2 Junior Leota, 1 Jaco Terblanche.
Replacements: 16 Wayne Bennett, 17 Brood van der Westhuizen, 18 Wickus Harmse, 19 Wikus Liebenberg, 20 Dougie Hellmuth, 21 Gaffie du Toit, 22 Joe Breytenbach.
Date: Friday, October 16
Venue: Pumas Stadium, Witbank
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert
Assistant referees: Phillip Bosch, Stuart Berry
TMO: Gerrie Coetzee
50@carol – Van der Merwe is a very common Afrikaans Surname… much like Smith or Jones is in the UK…
You’re an honourary Saffa… so it suits !
@carol – its cuzz we so handsome right?? LOL
@grootblousmile – met n naam soos kalientjie van der merwe sal sy goed hoort op die plaas LOL
Boerboel and Sharky, what I do find difficult to adapt to is the its ‘either or’ senario…..If you are not for you must be against idea. I like Rugby Talk and I still have friends on Keo, what is the Us and Them thingie?
The great divide and the talk of tribes, going back to the ruddy 1800’s when folks moved from Cape Town….Hells Bells why dredge that sort of stuff up.
You are just a bunch of guys chatting about rugby and life…..seems odd to me.
Speaking as a outsider…..!!
@Boerboel – I have my fingers crossed for your soccer damaged leg….that will teach you not to play with round ball!
@sharky_forever – 59 and 62. I have to say you South Africans hold a special allure for me!!
(Where are the smileys when you need one)!!!
64@carol – That’s exactly my question. As you I know I blog both sides and have friends both sides. I think it is an insult to R-T to “recruit” on Voldy, but hey, it is just my opinion that R-T is self-sufficient and sustainable without outside influence.
@carol – carol trust me the problem is not me its them, i have many friends on keo thus i still do there
puma rangerman sharksgirl big hit jinx charo porra to name a few are friends of mine, and because some of them know i come to RT they give me shit , thats their problem
for the most i ignore them , pitty they cant do the same
60@sharky_forever – Thanks
@grootblousmile – 61 – Common surname!!! Heheheheh OK I will accept that as a complement.
Do you sing Christmas Karliens or Christmas Carols over there,I was wondering?
@Boerboel – fact is boerboel anyone is entitled to go talk to their friends
today i was not recruiting and a valk guy ask for gbs ‘s new site , i gave it to him just for just rugby to swear at me and call me a moron ? you think that right ??
70@carol – “common” as in “mutual” or whatever, suggest a better word. It is certainly not as in “low-life”!!
another fact is we dont need to recruit there , they recruit day in and day out for us , by always talking about rt and saying shit about pietmen and gbs
this makes RT known to those who didnt know about the site
70@carol – No, we just wait for the presents…. hehehe
Father Chrismas wears red shorts and a red T-Shirt, over his big boepie (beer gut). He wears a live mamba snake for a belt… hehehe
@carol – carol its plainly staunch afrikaans names , nothing bad about it
71@sharky_forever – Nope, certainly don’t think it is right. You mentioned recruiting, I just gave my opinion on the “recruiting”. I also blog on Voldy and I do the normal thing of selective reading. Never had any problems there. But now I blog on R-T and I would prefer to leave Voldy and/or its blogger out of it.
@sharky_forever –
@Boerboel –
The great thing about diversity is as different people we all bring something to the party, we like different personalities just like we enjoy different foods. I love talking to Grant10, Soda Joe, Justrugby, Robzim and even Skop (even though he enjoys taking the pi$$ out of me) all staunch keoites (what ever that stands for)!
Vive la Difference…..
Long Live Rugby-Talk
Thank goodness for Keo, otherwise I would never have found you guys!! (Emotional smiley) !!
@Boerboel – pity about the selective reading mate , if you read all you would see why there is problems , trust me if they left me alone id be the happier for it
like i said i have some good mates that go there , charou and i worked in nigeria , so i know him , thus ill still go there , and its the same small group from there not everyone
anyhows enough of them
@grootblousmile – 74 Are you serious? Father Christmas in Shorts…..!!
@sharky_forever – OK enough, just thought I would give my angle too…..(Speaking as an outsider, hehehehe)
@carol – carol soda joe is a brilliant chap
me and him get on very well , and he knows his rugby
77@carol – Skoppie is a great guy in person as you know. Don’t know what you did to make him take the pi.. out of you!
79@carol – It’s 35 degrees C in December here… or hotter…
eish gbs carol wants to steal ur shorts lol
@sharky_forever – Soda is so articulate and so quick witted, you would almost think he was English!!! (Hahahah)
@Boerboel – actually me and skop get on very well too
@carol – now now lol
@Boerboel – I think Skop finds my ‘lack of depth’ a bit frustrating……I am as shallow as a puddle it has to be said!!
@grootblousmile – So you don’t get socks as Christmas presents more like….T shirts and flip flops!!
84@sharky_forever – Most girls do… hehehe
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