Sharks edge 14-man Pumas at the death
CURRIE CUP REPORT: The Sharks produced a late fightback to beat a 14-man Pumas team 24-22 in Nelspruit on Friday.
The team from Durban, who were 12 points down with less than five minutes on the clock, sneaked passed the home side with tries from Dylan Richardson and Dian Bleuler.
Bleuler’s try was the clincher as it came after the full-time hooter sounded and Nevaldo Fleurs showed some nerves of steel to land the winning conversion.
The home side showed a lot of character as they played most of the game with a man down after Njabulo Gumede received a red card for a high tackle in the 28th minute.
However, that didn’t stop them from dominating the Sharks for large periods of the game.
The visitors started the game well and they opened the scoring in the second minute with James Venter crashing over.
The Pumas slowly worked their way back into things and they soon found themselves 6-5 in front after two penalties from Tinus de Beer.
The Sharks suffered a setback when Lionel Cronje was yellow carded for not rolling away in the 20th minute and De Beer extended his team’s lead to four points with the penalty.
The home side then suffered a huge blow when prop Njabulo Gumede received a red card for a head-on-head tackle in the 28th minute.
Despite being a man down, the Pumas still had the majority of the ball and they kept their four-point lead heading into the break.
De Beer extended the Pumas’ lead to seven points with another penalty in the 52nd minute before showing his experience a few minutes later when he landed a neat drop goal after sustained pressure inside the Sharks’ 22.
The Sharks saw some light at the end of the tunnel when Pumas lock Shane Kirkwood was yellow-carded for cynical play.
With the Pumas down to six men in the forward pack, the visitors opted for a driving maul and they were rewarded when Dan Jooste went over for the try. Lionel Cronje was unsuccessful with the conversion.
However, the Sharks were brought back down to earth a few minutes later when Pumas scrumhalf Giovan Snyman weaved his way through the visitors’ defence to score his team’s first and only try of the game. De Beer added the extra two points with the conversion.
But that great late show from the Sharks, which included tries from Richardson and Bleuler, broke the Pumas’ hearts in the end.
Man of the match: He is on the losing team, but the award goes to Pumas flyhalf Tinus de Beer, who scored 17 points in the match, which included a drop goal.
The scorers:
For Pumas:
Try: Snyman
Con: De Beer
Pens: De Beer 4
DG: De Beer
For Sharks:
Tries: Venter, Jooste, Richardson, Bleuler
Con: Fleurs 2
Red card: Njabulo Gumede (Pumas, 28′ – high tackle, head-on-head contact)
Yellow cards: Lionel Cronje (Sharks, 20′ – cynical play, not rolling away); Shane Kirkwood (Pumas, 64′ – cynical play, collapsing the maul)
Teams
Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Lundi Msenge, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Andrew Kota, 10 Thinus de Beer, 9 Chriswill September, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Anele Lungisa, 6 Andre Fouche, 5 Shane Kirkwood (captain), 4 Malembe Mpofu, 3 Njabulo Gumede, 2 Llewellyn Classen, 1 Cameron Dawson.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Jacobs, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Simon Raw, 19 Deon Slabbert, 20 Ruwald van der Merwe, 21 Giovan Snyman, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Etienne Taljaard.
Sharks: 15 Nevaldo Fleurs, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Josh Jonas, 12 Murray Koster, 11 Aphelele Fassi, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Tiaan Fourie, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Jeandre Labuschagne, 6 James Venter, 5 Reniel Hugo (captain), 4 Corne Rahl, 3 Khutha Mchunu, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Khwezi Mona.
Replacements: 16 Dan Jooste, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Hanro Jacobs, 19 Marco de Witt, 20 Dylan Richardson, 21 Celimphilo Gumede, 22 Bradley Davids, 23 Marnus Potgieter.
Referee: Christopher Allison
Main photo: Johan Orton
