The ISG Pumas maintained their unbeaten status in this year’s SuperSport Rugby Challenge (SSRC), when they conquered the Falcons 26-19 in Bosman-stadion.

Our boys will tackle the Leopards in their third competitive game in the series, on Friday at Mbombela Stadium at 19:00.

Another win will add fuel to their fire, after they got off to a brilliant start to their defence of the series title against the Vodacom Blue Bulls early in April.

ISG Pumas off to a winning start

They are currently in third position, behind the Xerox Golden Lions in second and the Tafel Lager Griquas in first place based on their points difference.

“The game against the Falcons wasn’t exactly what we had hoped for. We should have scored more points, as your position on the log is determined by points difference. But we have put that behind us, and aim to score as many points as possible against the Leopards this weekend.

This will increase our chance for a home semi-final,” said head coach, Jimmy Stonehouse.

Backline coach, MJ Mentz added that unforced errors placed the team under pressure, and they lost momentum.
“Against the Leopards, we know that we cannot afford the same mistakes again,” he said and added that they are a young squad, consisting mostly of hungry Varsity Cup players. “Mistakes will cause their hair to stand on end, and they will capitalise on it,” Mentz said.

“We aim not to give them too much space, and put pressure on especially Chriswill September and Schalk Hugo,” he said.

Highly talented former Golden Lion back, Ashlon Davids may be just the man for that, when he makes his debut for the Pumas on Friday. Having represented Boland at youth level, Davids headed to Johannesburg where he represented the Lions at different levels and was named in the Lions 2016 Super Rugby squad. Timeslive referred to him as possibly the next Elton Jantjies.

“The SSRC is all about giving all the players a chance to strut their stuff, and Friday will be no different. This instills a fighting spirit among the players,” concluded Stonehouse.