Hot 7s from Pumas and Lowveld
It was non-stop action at the Saru Interprovincial Rugby Sevens at Mbombela Stadium on the weekend. The home teams did not disappoint.
The Pumas sevens rugby teams which competed in the South African Rugby Union’s Interprovincial Sevens at Mbombela Stadium on Friday and Saturday, both made the semi-finals of the cup competition, defeating more-fancied teams in the process.
It was particularly the Lowveld Pumas which became the darlings of the crowd, playing expansive and creative sevens rugby that put the likes of Limpopo Blue Bulls and the Falcons to the sword. The Steval Pumas also played strong attacking rugby, changing the direction of attack and putting the ball into the gaps for players to take at speed.
With many new faces, the squad have not been together long and with another week on the training field, they could have been unstoppable.
The Blue Bulls men’s and women’s team claimed the cups. The men beat Western Province 38-29 in the final while the Blue Bull women’s team won a thriller 24-22, also against WP.
The Steval Pumas got off to a shaky start on Friday, drawing 7-7 in their first pool match against Boland. They bounced back with a 17-10 win over the Leopards and then thrashed KwaZulu-Natal 27-0. This was enough to qualify for the cup quarter-final on Saturday where they put on one of the finest displays of creative running rugby in destroying the Golden Lions 31-5. In the semi, the Pumas fell to the eventual cup champions, the Blue Bulls, 10-22.
Many thought the Lowveld was just there to make up the numbers. They made numbers, large ones, on the scoreboard. The team beat Limpopo 54-0, the Falcons 33-7, and lost 17-19 to the Blue Bulls. In the cup quarter they showed tremendous guts.
The match against Free State went into extra time after a 12-12 score line. Lowveld scored the winning try to set up a semi-final match against WP. Province eked out a 21-14 win against a valiant Lowveld.
The Pumas women fared less well, losing 0-40 to Eastern Province, 7-29 to Boland and 5-31 to the Golden Lions. They did not qualify for the knockout phase. The tournament was exceptionally well organised and executed and the Pumas local organising committee can be proud of their achievement.
Awards
• Most tries women: Shaylin Simons, Western Province
• Most tries men: Warren Williams, Boland
• Women’s player of the tournament: Nadine Roos, Blue Bulls
• Men’s player of the tournament: Anthony Taylor, Western Province.
