Roos boot sinks Kings in PE
The win, their second of the Currie Cup season, saw got the Nelspruit team's campaign back on track after last week's loss to the Golden Lions.
The Kings, still winless, remain second from last on the standings.
The match ended in thrilling style, as the Kings fought in vain for their first victory of the season.
A breakout from their own tryline with minutes remaining saw them come within metres of scoring their second try of the match.
However, the Pumas defence held firm and an attempted drop-goal, which would have snatched victory, drifted wide.
After trailing 3-6 at half-time and then 6-9 when Roos struck his third penalty in the 55th minute, the Kings hit back when a period of relentless pressure saw powerful prop Lizo Gqoboka surge over the line for the only try of the match.
Fullback Scott van Breda added the conversion and the Kings took the lead for first time on the night, 13-9.
However, Roos' accurate boot proved telling in the final analysis – as the Pumas forced two more errors in the Kings' half for the flyhalf to boot his fourth and fifth penalties, putting the visitors 15-13 ahead in the 74th minute.
Van Breda had a shot from the halfway line, 10 metres in from touch, to try put the Kings back in front, but that fell short.
Then came the home team's final surge for victory, only to be thwarted by a desperate Pumas defence.
In the first half, the Kings crossed the line through scrumhalf Enrico Acker, only for the try to be disallowed through an off-the-ball incident – which resulted in EP lock Steven Sykes spending 10 minutes in the sin bin.
Man of the match: The Kings produced probably their best game of the season and are looking better with every outing. However, between the boot of Pumas flyhalf Juan-Claude Roos and the Pumas defence they just fell short. For his match-winning performance with the boot Roos wins our award.
The scorers:
For the Eastern Province Kings:
Try: Gqoboka
Con: Van Breda
Pens: Van Breda 2
For the Pumas:
Pens: Roos 5
Yellow card: Steven Sykes (Eastern Province Kings, 35 – foul play, playing an opponent off the ball)
Teams:
Eastern Province Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Siyanda Grey, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Phillipus du Plessis, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Karlo Aspeling, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Jacques Engelbrecht, 6 Thembelani Bholi , 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Steven Sykes (captain), 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Lizo Gqoboka, 17 Edgar Marutlulle, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Cameron Lindsay, 20 Paul Schoeman , 21 Kevin Luiters, 22 Hansie Graaff.
Pumas: 15 John-Wessel Bell, 14 Bernado Botha, 13 Jerome Pretorius, 12 Stefan Watermeyer (captain), 11 Rosco Spekman, 10 Juan-Claude Roos, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Jason-Colin Fraser, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 Khwezi Mona, 2 Frank Herne, 1 Corné Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Francois du Toit, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Lubabalo Mtyanda, 19 Jaco Bouwer, 20 Reynier van Rooyen, 21 Justin van Staden, 22 Hoffmann Maritz.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Jaftha, Jason Meiring Ruhan
