Griquas and Pumas draw in Kimberley battle
The Pumas' semi-final fate will be decided in Durban later tonight
The NNC Pumas will have to wait for the result of the match between the Cell C Sharks and DHL Western Province to know if they will qualify for the Currie Cup semi-finals.
The Pumas and the Tafel Lager Griquas drew 13-13 at Tafel Lager Park this afternoon.
The result left the Pumas in fourth place on the log, four points ahead of Western Province.
Should Western Province win and earn a bonus point, they will move to fourth and the Pumas will be out of the running. Should Western Province win without a bonus point, they will have to beat the Sharks by 24 points or more to deny the Pumas a semi-final spot.
The Sharks versus Province match kicks off at 19:00.
The match in Kimberley this afternoon was a thriller.
The Pumas were in fine form. Their set pieces were massive and they poached six Griquas line-outs in the match.
Both teams were brilliant on defence.
The Griquas can consider themselves lucky to draw. The Pumas were the better team.
George Whitehead put the home team in the lead after four minutes with a penalty goal.
In the next 22 minutes, the Pumas kicked five penalties into touch, and mauled from the resulting line-outs. Each time the Griquas’ maul defence held. The remarkable effort by the Northern Cape lads neutralised one of the Pumas’ strengths.
The visitors scored the first try of the match on 28 minutes. An unforced error gifted the Pumas possession and they ran with the ball, with Tapira Mafura going over in the left corner.
The Pumas led 5-3 at half-time.
A 44th-minute penalty by Eddie Fouché gave the Pumas an 8-3 lead.
Five minutes later, Whitehead closed the gap to three points.
Sebastian de Klerk scored for the Pumas two minutes later. They again sent the ball down the backline and created an overlap with De Klerk finishing the attack.
Fouché failed to convert the try.
Chris Hollis secured the draw for the home side with a 71st-minute try. The Griquas had numerous attacking phases in the Pumas’ 22-metre area, with Hollis eventually going over. Whitehead converted from a difficult angle.
It was not to be for the Pumas. They played exceptionally well. The Griquas had plenty of fight in them, and despite being poor in the line-outs and making too many unforced errors, fought back for a draw.
The fate of the Pumas lies in the result of the final round-robin match of the Currie Cup. No doubt the Sharks will have strong support from Mpumalanga tonight.
