Pumas, Sharks XV stay unbeaten

The Pumas and Sharks XV are still the only teams in the Vodacom Cup with perfect records and held onto their positions at the top of the North and South Section respectively with solid away victories this weekend.

They are followed, in the south, by the Argentinean Pampas, who’ve won three on the trot after a draw in the opening round, and in the north by the Leopards XV, who recorded an impressive win in Pretoria over the Blue Bulls.

Former Springbok flyhalf André Pretorius was the Leopards’ hero as he kicked 23 points in the Potchefstroom team’s 33-26 win at Loftus B on Saturday afternoon. He landed eight of his nine attempts at goal to help his side to an unlikely victory after trailing by 14 points early in the second half.

The Pumas stepped up a number of gears after the break and “won” the second half 34-7, scoring almost a point a minute, as they beat Griquas by an impressive 47-31 in Kimberley on Friday afternoon.

With 36 minutes gone, it was looking good for the home team, who were leading by 24-7 at that stage. But then the Pumas started playing some serious attacking rugby and tore Griquas apart in the second half, with Carl Bezuidenhout contributing 15 of the visitors’ points.

Also on Friday, the Griffons scored three tries in the space of 19 minutes to beat the Golden Lions for the first time in the Vodacom Cup since their victory in the opening season in 1998, when they won by 30-19 at the North West Stadium in Welkom on a Friday night.

Flyhalf Hansie Graaff was instrumental in the win – he kicked half the Griffons’ points with three conversions, two penalty goals and a 70th minute drop goal.  

In a bottom-of-the-log North Section clash, the Falcons were too strong for the Limpopo Blue Bulls, winning their match in Tzaneen by a convincing 69-7.

A familiar name on the score sheet was that of former Springbok speedster Jongi Nokwe, who scored three of the Falcons’s tries, with his teammate JP Mostert bagging four.

Round Four action in the South Section kicked off in George on Friday evening, where Sharks XV flyhalf Fred Zeilinga, the top points’ scorer in the Vodacom Cup thus far this season, delivered another impressive kicking display that helped his team hold off a brave South Western Districts Eagles by 26-22 at Outeniqua Park.

With 15 minutes to go, the Eagles were ahead by 22-16, but a fourth penalty goal by Zeilinga, as well as a converted try by replacement wing Sean Robinson with 10 minutes to go, was the difference between the two teams in the end.

On Saturday in Paarl, reigning Vodacom Cup champions Western Province had to work hard to beat the last placed team in the South Section, the Border Bulldogs, by 22-13.

Also on Saturday, the EP Kings showed that they probably enjoy playing away from home more when they beat the Free State XV by 17-13 in Bloemfontein. It was the Kings’ second away victory in as many matches this season. In their two home games, they drew and lost.

In the final match in the South, 2011 champions, the Pumas played some scintillating running rugby in their convincing 65-23 win over the Boland Cavaliers in Wellington.

All the scorers:

GWK Griquas 31-47 Pumas

For GWK Griquas:

Tries: Carney, Adendorf, Karemaker, Lawson

Cons: De Wet 4

Pen: De Wet

For Pumas:

Tries: Bezuidenhout, Bell, Bothma, Specman 2, Watermeyer, Loock

Cons: Bezuidenhout 5, Marx

Griffons 30-19 Golden Lions

For Griffons:

Tries: Nel, Hancke, Mbotho

Cons: Graaff 3

Pens: Graaff 2

DG: Graaff

For Golden Lions:

Tries: Lerm, Van der Watt

Pens: Schmidt 3

SWD Eagles 22-26 Sharks XV

For SWD Eagles:

Try: Dyantyi

Con: Taljard

Pens: Taljard 5

For Sharks XV:

Tries: Kleynhans, Robinson

Cons: Zeilinga 2

Pens: Zeilinga 4

Free State XV 13-17 EP Kings

For Free State XV:

Tries: Erasmus, Mohoje

Pen: De Bruyn

For EP Kings:

Try: Stevens

Pens: Van Breda 4

Limpopo Blue Bulls 7-69 Falcons  

For Limpopo Blue Bulls:

Try: Cresswell

Con: Craill

For Falcons:

Tries: Van Eeden, Poley, Mostert 4, Van Wyk, Nokwe 3, Cronje

Cons: Kotze 6, Cronje

Boland Cavaliers 23-65 Pampas

For Boland Cavaliers:

Tries: April, Roberts, Pretorius, Adams

Pen: Croy

For Pampas:

Tries: Iglesias 2, De la Vega, Montero 2, Landajo 2, Garcia Veiga

Cons: Iglesias 6, Madero 2

Pens: Iglesias 3

Western Province 22-13 Border Bulldogs

For Western Province:

Tries: Cloete, Williams, Reyneke

Cons: Coleman 2

Pen: Coleman

For Border Bulldogs:

Tries: Adams, Bester

Pen: Aspelling

Blue Bulls 26-33 Leopards XV

For Blue Bulls:

Tries: Cook, Smit

Cons: Jantjies 2

Pens: Jantjies 4

For Leopards XV:

Tries: Welgemoed, Hanekom

Con: Pretorius

Pens: Pretorius 7

Logs:

North Section:

1 Pumas – P 4 W 4 D 0 L 0 Pts 20  

2 Leopards XV – P 4 W 3 D 0 L 1 Pts 14

3 Blue Bulls – P 4 W 2 D 0 L 2 Pts 13

4 GWK Griquas – P 4 W 4 D 0 L 2 Pts 12

5 Griffons – P 4 W 2 D 0 L 2 Pts 9

6 Falcons – P 4 W 2 D 0 L 2 Pts 9

7 Golden Lions – P 4 W 1 D 0 L 3 Pts 8

8 Limpopo Blue Bulls – P 4 W 0 D 0 L 4 Pts 0

South Section:

1 Sharks XV – P 4 W 4 D 0 L 0 Pts 18

2 Pampas – P 4 W 3 D 1 L 0 Pts 16

3 Western Province – P 4 W 2 D 1 L 1 Pts 12

4 EP Kings – P 4 W 2 D 1 L 1 Pts 11

5 Free State XV – P 4 W 1 D 0 L 3 Pts 8

6 SWD – P 4 W 1 D 0 L 3 Pts 7

7 Boland Cavaliers – P 4 W 1 D 1 L 2 Pts 7

8 Border Bulldogs – P 4 W 0 D 0 L 0 Pts 0