Pumas scrape through against Valke
In what was initially thought to be a comfortable outing for the home team, turned out to be a nervy encounter with both teams exchanging the lead several times in the match.
MBOMBELA – The Steval Pumas made hard work of their final Vodacom Cup league match against the Hino Valke with a 28-22 win at the Mbombela Stadium on Friday evening.
In what was initially thought to be a comfortable outing for the home team, turned out to be a nervy encounter with both teams exchanging the lead several times in the match.
The Steval Pumas had the first change to cross the tryline in the opening five minutes. Bernardo Botha and JW Bell broke the Valke’s defence with great interplay but flyhalf, J.C. Roos could not hold on to the final pass.
The Valke made most of this let off and opened the scoring at the other end of the pitch after a period of extended attacking pressure. Fullback, Juan Kotze got the Valke centimeters from the tryline after slick and quick hands from their backline created problems for the Pumas’ defence. Anrich Richter then dived over for the first of his two tries to put the Steval Pumas on the back foot.
JC Roos made amends for his error previously when he slotted his first penalty, while Valke’s Kotze also scored a penalty of his own to take the score to 8-3 in the away side’s favour.
A mixture of good fortune and anticipation lead to Bernado Botha scoring the first try for the Steval Pumas after a failed chip kick from Valke’s Chanley Williams landed in the former’s hands. J.C. Roos kicked the conversion to give the Pumas the lead at 10-8.
Roos kicked another penalty in the 30th minute to extend the Pumas lead to 5 points. The Valke though had the final say in the first half with a second try from Richter to take the lead at half time by 15-13.
The Steval Pumas fans had worried and disappointed looks in their faces during the break, but this was son chanced into expressions of delight when the home team roared right back with a splendid try from fullback, JW Bell. Bell took full advantage from Valke’s Arno Poley misjudgment of an up and under, as the ball bounced right back into Bell’s hands as he sprinted to the try line.
Reynier van Rooyen extended the Pumas lead in the 53rd minute with quick thinking close to the tryline as he took the gap between two defenders to increase the Pumas’ lead to 25-15.
The Valke were not done yet as they dominated in the scrums and line outs with their forwards having a much better game than the lackluster Pumas forward pack.
This was evident when Valke’s eigthman Friddle Oliver went over after a ferocious driving maul with 15 minutes to go. Kotze slotted the conversion to cut the deficit to a meager three points.
Roos had a great kicking game and put through his final and most important penalty in the 72 minute to give the Steval Pumas much needed breathing space with a six point advantage which they held until the final whistle.
Scorers:
Steval Pumas 28 (13) Tries: Bernardo Botha, JW Bell, Reynier van Rooyen, Conversions: JC Roos (2). Penalties: JC Roos (3)
Hino Valke 22 (15): Tries: Anrich Richter (2), Friddle Olivier Conversions: Juan Kotze (2). Penalties: Juan Kotze
