Pumas’ late surge sinks Blue Bulls
The Steval Pumas exceeded all expectations to take a grinding win over the Vodacom Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in their first SuperSport Challenge game on Saturday.
Coach of the Pumas, Brent Janse van Rensburg’s back-to-basics approach manifested in the match and translated onto the scoreboard.
Fly half Kobus Marais slotted a penalty after five minutes to give the visitors an early lead, but the Blue Bulls replied with two penalties within five minutes to take a 6-3 lead.
Seven minutes later, Marais again split the uprights to level the scores at 6-6.
It took the Bulls another 13 minutes before they could score and convert a try, to take the score to 13-6.
Fortunately, Marais brought his kicking boots and added another penalty just before half-time. The teams went into the shed at 13-9. Whatever the coach said to his charges at half-time had the desired effect.
Four minutes into the second half, debutant Marko Janse van Rensburg scored a try for the Pumas. The conversion sailed wide but the local team regained the lead at 13-14. The home side hit back with a successful penalty five minutes later for 16-14, before they would score a converted try with 20 minutes to go.
Three minutes later, the Bulls’ Rabs Maxwane received a yellow card for a spear tackle on Frank Herne. To prove he was not one to hold a grudge, Herne scored a try a minute later.
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With 10 minutes to go, the Pumas made the one-man advantage count with two quick tries. They took the lead by eight points, securing the final score of 31-23.
A much-improved second-half performance would allow the Pumas to run out as deserved winners and give them the perfect start to their SuperSport Challenge campaign.
Janse van Rensburg was happy with the win, but said there is a lot of work they still need to do and the players have to remain hungry to seek continual improvement.
“We didn’t have any ball in the first half, we defended a large amount of the game and that sapped the energy levels a bit close. We knew that if we could hold on, we would be in on it. We lost some vital line-outs in key areas of the field that put us under some pressure.
All you need to know on this coming weekend’s match against the Lions
