Pumas thump EP in SA Cup home debut at Mbombela Stadium
After a great start to the SA Cup season against the SWD Eagles in George, the Airlink Pumas kicked off their home fixtures with a whitewash victory over Eastern Province on Friday March 29.
The Airlink Pumas kicked off their season at home in fine style, thumping Eastern Province (EP) 61-0 at Mbombela Stadium on Friday March 29 to continue a dominant start to the competition.
The Pumas were hot off a resounding win over the SWD Eagles in George the week before, which was the perfect start to their inaugural SA Cup season. In their first SA Cup fixture at home, they took on an Eastern Province side that earned a great come-from-behind victory against the Valke in their first match of the season.
Jimmy Stonehouse, Airlink Pumas coach, was due to celebrate his birthday on Saturday March 30 and would have been hoping his troops could present him with the perfect birthday gift in the form of a great win.
The Pumas players were clearly determined to give Stonehouse the best gift possible as they crashed over the try line within the first five minutes, courtesy of a driving maul from a line-out.
The Pumas would use this tactic to devastating effect in the first half and coupled with what can only be described a perfect exhibition of goal kicking from Clinton Swart, they held a 42-0 lead at half time.
The home side seemed to ease off the throttle in the second half, but credit must also be given to EP who improved on their first half mistakes, with their forwards putting in a much better shift.
Only three more tries were added to the Pumas’ tally in the second half. Clinton Swart kicked two more conversions to ensure his success rate from the kicking tee stayed at 100%, slotting over eight from eight before he was substituted.
When the final whistle blew the Airlink Pumas were 61-0 victors, handing Stonehouse a more than ideal birthday gift. The Pumas’ try scorers were as follows: Jaco Labuschagne (2), Darnell Osuagwu (2), Dewald Maritz, Ross Braude, Tino Swanepoel, Llewellyn Classen and Giovan Snyman.
After the second round of SA Cup action the gap between the competition’s top three (Pumas – third, Cheetahs – second and Griquas – first) and the rest is all too evident.
Each side has earned two bonus point wins thus far, and with points differences of 82, 102 and 129 respectively they look set to dominate the inaugural SA Cup. The Griffons are fourth, also on 10 points, with a points difference of 42.
