Pumas trounce Griffons to reclaim top spot

After suffering their first loss of the season against the Cell C Sharks on April 7, the Airlink Pumas travelled to Welkom with a point to prove.

The defending Carling Currie Cup champions dominated play early on against the Griffons on Sunday, enjoyed most of the ball position and held the upper hand on attack.

Flanker Deon Slabbert opened the visitors’ account, with flyhalf Tinus de Beer easily adding the extras.

ALSO READ: Hoërskool Nelspruit-leerder slaan rol in kortfilm los

Another try came for the Pumas as Giovan Snyman displayed some fancy footwork to beat his opponents to the tryline, planting the ball neatly in the corner.

Devon Williams was looking to add yet another try to his Currie Cup tally, but the initial decision from referee Aimee Barrett-Theron was overturned after the TMO indicated an error at the breakdown.

The Pumas’ third try came through lock Malembe Mpofu and Jimmy Stonehouse’s troops needed one more to claim a bonus point and move to the top of the log yet again.

The Mpumalanga outfit, however, lost momentum in the dying stages of the first half when the eighth man, Kwanda Dimanza, was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle.

ALSO READ: Runners amped to conquer the Elands Marathon 

At halftime the scoreboard read 19-6 in favour of the defending champions.

After the break, the Pumas proceeded to score 43 unanswered points. PJ Jacobs was introduced to the front row midway through the second stanza and dotted down three times in the space of 15 minutes.

Four minutes into the second half, Diego Appollis scored the Pumas’ bonus point try and shortly after, came Jacobs’ first five points.

Ruwald van der Merwe also managed to motor over the try line for his first Currie Cup try.

ALSO READ: Visse byt vir Longtom Hengelklub

Jacobs went over for his second and third tries after this.

A crafty try from replacement scrumhalf, Chriswill September, was followed by replacement flyhalf Brandon Thomson, scoring to give the Griffons a thrashing at Down Touch Investments Stadium.

The final score was 64-6.

In his post-match remarks, Stonehouse said that they knew they could make up the points difference in their game against the Griffons. “It’s important to have a bigger points difference on the log than the other teams if you end up tied,” he said.

ALSO READ: Mbombela has its own Masters golf tournament

The Pumas’ coaching staff also had the opportunity to rotate their players and try out new combinations, to be prepared for when their first choice players are not available.

The Pumas reclaimed the top spot on the log heading into round seven when they return to Mbombela Stadium tomorrow, April 21, to take on DHL Western Province at 16:30.

Stonehouse emphasised that it will be crucial for them to maintain ball possession, to break the advantage line and to make sure they contest at the fixed facets.

“They have a very good backline and we are going to have to stand our ground on defence,” Stonehouse added.

The Mpumalanga-based side has only managed victory on home ground once against Western Province, and that was back in 1983 when the Pumas were based in Witbank.

To commemorate this famous and certainly historic victory, Stonehouse and his team have invited the players of the 1983 team to a reunion at the stadium this evening, April 20.