Pumas bounce back against Kings

Editor

The Pumas returned to the victory trail in style when they secured a 20-9 victory against the EP Kings in Nelspruit on Friday.

The home side outscored the Kings by two tries to nought with loose forwards Jason-Colin Fraser and Marnus Schoeman crossing the whitewash.

The Pumas showed their superiority during a dominant 15-minute period in the first half, during which Fraser and Schoeman got over for their tries, but went off the boil as the game progressed, especially during the second half which delivered little enterprising play from either side. 

The Kings were competitive but offered little on attack and seldom troubled the Pumas' defence. They showed plenty of heart but committed too many unforced errors which led to their downfall.

The visitors started stronger and raced in to a 6-0 lead after Scott van Breda slotted two early penalties but the Pumas struck back when Fraser scord his try in the 14th minute.

This after he ran onto a long pass form his captain Stefan Watermeyer and stepped past Luther Obi before dotting down under the posts.

The Kings were then reduced to 14 men when Thembelani Bholi was yellow carded for cynical play on defence, close to his tryline. Justin va Staden converted the resulting penalty which meant the Pumas held a 10-6 lead.

They extended their lead in the 28th minute when Schoeman barged over from close quarters, after the home side went on a driving maul on the Kings' five-metre line and when Van Staden added his second conversion, the hosts were in control at 17-6.

Van Breda added another penalty, shortly afterwards, to reduce his side's deficit and this was still either side's game at the break.

The second half was a dour affair with the only points coming shortly after the restart when Van Staden added another penalty when Schalk Ferreira was penalised for obstruction.

This win consolidates the Pumas' mid-table position and they are now in fifth place provisionally with 13 points from seven games while the Kings are still second from bottom on seven points after the same number of matches.

The scorers:

For Pumas:
Tries: Fraser, Schoeman
Cons: Van Staden 2
Pens: Van Staden 2

For EP Kings:
Pens: Van Breda 3
Yellow Card: Bholi 

Pumas: 15 Hoffmann Maritz, 14 Jerome Pretorius, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Stefan Watermeyer (c), 11 Rosco Spekman, 10 Justin van Staden, 9 Faf de Klerk, 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.

EP Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Siyanda Grey, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Tim Whitehead (c), 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