The ISG Pumas kept up their impressive winning streak with a 16-try thrashing of the Windhoek Draught Welwitschias at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday.

This was the heaviest defeat any team have ever suffered in a SuperSport Rugby Challenge match. On average the home team scored a try once every five minutes, but in the second half when the visitors, who were at this stage at their wits’ end, conceded a try from almost every kick-off.

Pumas fight to the final minute for victory

The game got off to a rather peculiar start, with the home team sometimes coming across as overeager to achieve the big victory they had planned. Nonetheless, outside centre Johann Vermaak was the first to add points to the scoreboard in the first two minutes of the match.

Five minutes into the game, Namibia already trailed the game 14-0 following a try by right winger Jean-Paul Lewis. By half-time, the Pumas were 49 points ahead of their opponents, which were yet to score any points.
Jacobus Marais certainly laced up his kicking shoes when he converted all seven tries in the first half – one of his own, and that of Vermaak, Lewis, Henko Marais, Marco Palvie, Piet-Louw Strauss and Etienne Taljaard. He went on to convert 11 of the 16 tries, adding 27 points during the match. Ashlon Davids converted two more.

With the break of second half, the Pumas buried the Welwitschias deeper into a heavy defeat. The Namibians surrendered another nine tries, from as early as two minutes into the second half. Lewis was the first to rub salt into their wounds with his second try of the match, shortly followed by another by Phumzile Maqondwana two minutes later, converted by Marais.

Pumas make hard work of victory over Leopards

Palvie scored two consecutive tries, one of which was converted. Try after try, and conversion after conversion, the visibly smaller Namibians became more disheartened. One could not help but feel sorry for the defenseless Namibians, which had now lost their sixth game of the season, now by their new average of at least 10 tries a match.
Their pack was overpowered at every opportunity as the team were kept scoreless.

Scrums went backwards, massive holes opened up in their backline, and they were caught off guard, resulting in more tries by Giovanne Snyman, Henko Marais, Carel du Prees and Hilton Lobberts (2). It was as if the visitors had given up.

Around 25 minutes into the second half, the game was brought to an abrupt standstill by referee Archie Sehlako during a maul.

Moments after fan favourite and key player Hugo Kloppers replaced Tazz Fuzani on lock, he had both the crowd and his teammates on tenterhooks. After being carefully loaded onto a stretcher, and carried off the field, X-rays revealed that he had suffered a broken leg, and could be out for the remainder of the year.
“I broke my tibia, and fractured my fibula,” he told Lowvelder. He underwent surgery and is currently recovering at home.

“It is difficult to say how long he’ll be out for,” said Marius van Rensburg, team manager.
“There were a lot of positives in this game, such as players sticking to the structure especially in the second half. The negatives were, however, contesting in the line-outs, but most of all the massive loss of Hugo Kloppers. We wish him a speedy recovery,” said head coach Jimmy Stonehouse.

Both Pumas (North Section) and Western Province (South Section) have secured their semi-final spots with a round to go. The Pumas’ next game will be against the Down Touch Griffons, in Welkom, this weekend.

Photos by Stefan de Villiers