Pumas upstage Lions in the Park
The Pumas threw the form book out the window and booked their place in the Vodacom Cup Final with an impressive 43-20 win over the Golden Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Friday.
The Golden Lions had been unbeaten in the league phase of the competition, while they beat the Pumas 24-16 earlier in the year.
However, the Pumas ran in five tries to two to secure their place in the Final – against either Western Province or the Blue Bulls.
The Pumas had, by far, the better of the first half as they dominated territory and shaded possession for much of the half.
Pumas flyhalf JC Roos opened the scoring with a sixth-minute penalty- before the visitors grabbed their first try when they took the ball through six phases for right wing Bernado Botha to sprint down the touchline.
The wing sniped over in the corner with Roos slotting the difficult conversion kick as the Pumas took a 10-0 lead after 16 minutes.
Roos kicked his second penalty before the hosts finally opened their account, when replacement scrumhalf Lohan Jacobs snapped over a 25-metre drop-goal in the 24th minute.
But the score only seemed to invigorate the Pumas and, two minutes later, flank Lambert Groenewald took a crash ball before powering his way over from five metres out with the conversion pushing the Pumas into a 20-3 lead.
The Pumas extended their lead when lock Rudi Mathee, who turned in a storming performance, grabbed a well-deserved try when he muscled his way past three would-be defenders to dot down in the right-hand corner. The try was not converted but the visitors had powered their way into a 25-3 lead.
The Lions had the better of the final exchanges of the half and they cut the deficit with a penalty from fullback Kobus de Kock with what turned out to be the last kick of the half.
The Pumas suffered a setback soon after the restart when outside centre Jerome Pretorius was yellow-carded for tackling a player in the air.
The Lions took almost immediate advantage of their numerical superiority as right wing Damian Engledoe crashed over alongside the posts for a converted try.
The home team had their tails up and they cut the deficit to just five points, after 50 minutes, when inside centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg jinked his way over for a converted try.
But the Pumas struck back thanks to a superb individual try from replacement flank Marnus Schoeman who burst clear from 40 metres out before bumping off two would-be tacklers on his way to crashing over in the left-hand corner.
Roos extended the lead with a long-range penalty before Schoeman made sure of the win with his second try with eight minutes left in the match before Roos nailed his fourth penalty with the last kick of the match.
Scorers:
Golden Lions:
Tries: Engledoe, Janse van Rensburg
Cons: De Kock 2
Pen: De Kock
DG: Jacobs
Pumas:
Tries: Botha, Groenewald, Mathee, Schoeman 2
Cons: Roos 3
Pens: Roos 4
Teams:
Golden Lions: 15 Kobus de Kock, 14 Mark Richards, 13 Nicolaas Hanekom, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Damian Engledoe, 10 Ashlon Davids, 9 Ricky Schroeder (captain), 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Ruan Ackermann, 6 Stephan de Wit, 5 Luvuyiso Lusaseni, 4 Bobby De Wee, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Dylan Smith.
Replacements: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Tyson Mulamba, 18 Jean-Pierre Du Preez, 19 Jano Venter, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Gerdus van der Walt, 22 Selom Gavor.
Pumas: 15 JW Bell, 14 Bernardo Botha, 13 Jerome Pretorius, 12 Stefan Watermeyer (captain), 11 Marcello Sampson, 10 Juan-Claude Roos, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Jason-Collin Fraser, 7 Lambert Groenewald, 6 Uzair Cassiem, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 De-Jay Terblanche, 2 Jacques Momberg, 1 Khwezi Mona.
Replacements: 16 Marnus Schoeman, 17 Simon Westraadt, 18 Eduan van der Walt 19 Brian Shabangu, 20 Johan Herbst, 21 Justin van Staden, 22 Wilmar Louw.
Referee: Francois Pretorius
Assistant referees: Stephan Geldenhuys, Renier Vermeulen
TMO: Johan Greeff
Source: sarugby.co.za
