The Steval Pumas scored their first away win in the Absa Currie Cup against the Free State Cheetahs this afternoon. The Pumas put on a superb display of high-tempo, high-risk rugby.

The game plan paid off and the Pumas secured four log points.

The forwards laid the foundation for the victory with excellent scrumming and solid line outs.

Justin van Staden kicked five out of five at goal and his all-round play was brilliant.

The team defended well and although unforced errors did creep in with the high-risk approach, the only time they looked like the second best team was the six seconds when Sarel Pretorius scored a try for the Cheetahs.

The Pumas were the better team and controlled the match from the first whistle.

The Cheetahs had a horrid first half. The Pumas annihilated the Cheetahs scrum in the first minute of the game and it did not get any better for the home team. They made too many poor decisions and silly errors. They did at times look dangerous on the counter-attack, but should have capitalised more on the turn-over possession they won.

The Pumas held territorial advantage and had the better of the possession in the first 40 minutes.

Steval Pumas centre Hennie Skorbinski scored on his debut after Renaldo Bothma broke the defensive line and offloaded with perfect timing. Justin van Staden put the Pumas seven points up.

Two Van Staden penalties put the Pumas 13 point in the lead before a wonderfully worked team try put the Cheetahs JP du Plessis over in the left corner. Pieter-Steyn de Wet converted.

Another Van Staden penalty gave the Pumas a 16-7 half time lead.

The 7-16 score at half time silenced the small Bloemfontein crowd.

The Cheetahs were much improved in the second half. They went back to basics, securing quality possession and getting into the Pumas faces on attack and defence.

They seemed to be fighting their way back into the match and when Pumas captain Corne Steenkamp went off injured the visiting team seemed to drop a gear for few minutes.

But stand-in captain and man of the match Renaldo Bothma led the team to lift themselves for a superb last 25 minutes in which they played with passion and sublime execution. It was a wonderful way for Bothma to enjoy his 50^th game for the Pumas.

Sarel Pretorius weaved through poor Pumas defence to score in the 50^th minute and De Wet took his team to within two points of the visitors.

Penalties were traded and the score was 19-17 to the Pumas with 20 minutes remaining.

Then the boys from the Lowveld went mad.

They played with the confidence of a team in which there are no individuals, only the team.

Rosko Specman sidestepped three defenders to score and JC Roos added the conversion.

Then Marius Coetzer scored from a rolling maul.

The Roos conversion was pushed to the right from a difficult angle.

It made no difference the Steval Pumas were deserved 31-17 victors and moved to second place on the log, even if only for a few hours.