Pumas down Kings in snore fest

The home side ran in two first half tries while flyhalf Justin van Staden contributed half of his sides points with the boot as they resurrected their hopes of sneaking into the semi-finals while handing the Kings their sixth defeat of the campaign.

The Pumas enjoyed plenty of front foot ball in the opening minutes but had nothing to show for it as Justin van Staden missed his first kick of the match. They found themselves trailing after eight minutes though when Scott van Breda landed a penalty for the Kings. He then stretched the lead to six points when he slotted a 50 metre penalty four minutes later.

The home side began to settle and took the ball through numerous phases before a simple backline move found Jason-Colin Fraser on the right touchline. The flank stepped inside his opponent and cantered 20 metres to grab the first try of the match. Van Staden made no mistake with the conversion to hand the Pumas the lead after 15 minutes.

EP were reduced to 14 men in the 18th minute when Thembelani Bholi was sent to the bin for a having his hands in the ruck. The Pumas took immediate advantage as van Staden slotted his penalty of the match to increase their lead.

The home side's dominance continued as they pinned the Kings inside their 22 and the sustained pressure paid off in the 28th minute when Marnus Schoeman benefited from a perfectly executed rolling maul following a 5 metre line-out. Van Staden added his second conversion of the match. The Kings responded two minutes later through the boot of van Breda to reduce the deficit to eight points with 10 minutes remaining in the half.

The Kings ended the half camped inside the Pumas' 22 but the home side stood up to the challenge to hold a 17-9 lead at the half-time interval.

The Pumas opened the scoring in the second half when van Staden slotted his second penalty of the night in the 43rd minute. The match went into a bit of a lull from that point despite the home side camping inside the Kings' 22.

Neither side was able to add more points onto the scoreboard as the home side bagged the points.

Man of the match: The tight five of the EP Kings were absolutely dominant at scrum time while Tim Agaba and Thembelani Bholi were value for money, despite the latter receiving an unnecessary yellow card. Luther Obi looked dangerous when he was given the chance. Justin van Staden kept the Pumas ahead with trusty boot despite missing his first kick of the match while Jason-Colin Fraser provided brute force around the fringes and with ball in hand. Our award goes to scrumhalf Francois de Klerk who maintained his high standards by providing the impetus needed for the victory.

Scorers:

For the Pumas:

Tries: Fraser, Schoeman

Cons: van Staden 2

Pens: van Staden 2

For EP Kings:

Pens: van Breda 3

Yellow card: Thembelani Bholi (EP Kings, 18 – cynical play, hands in the ruck)

Teams:

Pumas: 15 Hoffmann Maritz, 14 Jerome Pretorius, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Stefan Watermeyer (captain), 11 Rosco Spekman, 10 Justin van Staden, 9 Francois de Klerk (captain), 8 Jason-Colin Fraser, 7 Jaco Bouwer, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Lubabalo Mtyanda, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Frank Herne, 1 Corné Fourie.

Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Marné Coetzee, 18 Jannie Stander, 19 Uzair Cassiem, 20 Reynier van Rooyen, 21 Hennie Skorbinski, 22 Marcello Sampson.

Eastern Province Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Siyanda Grey, 13 Phillipus du Plessis, 12 Tim Whitehead (captain), 11 Luther Obi, 10 Karlo Aspeling, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Steven Sykes, 4 Stefan Willemse, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Schalk Ferreira.

Replacements: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Cornel Hess, 20 Jacques Engelbrecht, 21 Dwayne Kelly, 22 Elgar Watts.

Referee: Cwengile Jadezweni

Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Stephan Geldenhuys

TMO: Willie Vos