Pumas Sevens make their presence felt
Kimberley was once again a hub of rugby activity this weekend during the Saru Interprovincial Sevens Tournament, hosted by GWK Griquas.
Three teams of the Lowveld, amateurs, women and the first-ever Steval Pumas (mainly consisting of contracted players) took up the challenge in this 34 men and women sevens series.
Start of play on day one was very successful for the Steval Pumas as
they clinched three wins to qualify for the play-offs the next morning.
They succeeded to thrash the EP Kings by 36-10, Blue Bulls by 19-12 and the SWD Eagles by 26-5. The quarter final was against the hosts, Griquas who were beaten 33-14.
“Western Province were our opponents for the semis. The boys upped
their game and won the semis convincingly by 28-7,” coach of the professional team, MJ Mentz said.
The well-oiled team of Potchefstroom, the Leopards stood between the Pumas and the title. But for the first year it evaded the motivated team from Nelspruit as they took a 34-21 beating in the final with six tries to four.
In the women’s tournament they showed some talent to reach the plate
final, but were defeated by Free State (17-12). On day one the Puma-women lost 40-0 against the EP Kings and had a close shave against the Griquas (20-12), but convincingly won the Golden Lions by 34-0. Day two started off with a 22-5 win against the Griffons, followed by 36-0 win in the semis over SA students.
The Lowveld amateur team on the other hand had hard work to do in all their matches.
Day one saw them lose against Western Province by 26-21 and 31-26 against Free State and 31-7 to the Leopards. Their match against KwaZulu-Natal was yet another close shave with a 19-12 defeat.
“From a professional team’s perspective, this tournament was superb preparation for our international sevens tournament in December,” Mentz concluded.
Would you like to read more on the Pumas?
Click on these links:
Unstoppable Pumas dominate Griquas
Pumasslot met malaria gediagnoseer
The First Division Currie Cup champions, the Steval Pumas are back in town
The Steval Pumas are back for business
Steval Pumas sterspeler het wel Guillian-Barré siekte
Pumas word losgelaat op die gholfbaan
https://www.citizen.co.za/lowvelder/39168/pumas-word-op-die-gholfbaan-losgelaat-2/
