Pumas claim Griquas scalp

The Pumas claimed their first win of the season with a 27-21 victory over the Griquas in Kimberley on Sunday afternoon. 

The home side fought back valiantly in the second half to earn a losing bonus point in the final play of the game, but the away side did enough to secure victory.

The Pumas scored the first try in the 11th minute through outside center Jerome Pretorius, who received a pop pass from eighth man Francois Kleinhans after his break.

Fly-half Justin van Staden added the extras to make it 7-0. But the home side fired back five minutes later. Left wing Adriaan Coertzen stepped off his left foot to score a try that Andre Swarts converted.

Herculian Pumas flank Chris Cloete scored the next converted try from the base of a ruck five metres from the whitewash after stealing the ball from his own scrum-half's hands. Swarts then slotted a penalty for the home side before Pumas prop Khwezi Mona scored a five-pointer after ten patient phases. Van Staden converted again.

Soon after, Van Staden slotted a penalty to keep up his 100 percent kicking record in the game and make the scoreline read 24-10 to the Pumas at half time.

However, the Griquas began their fightback in the second 40. A cheeky break after not being held in a tackle from pacey full-back Eric Zana saw him offload to reserve scrum-half Renier Botha who went in to score an unconverted try.

George Whitehead then landed a penalty to cut the deficit to only six points for the home side. But then the Pumas were awarded a penalty for a Griquas infringement at a ruck which van Staden converted to create a 9 point gap.

Whitehead slotted the final penalty of the game after the full-time hooter had sounded to give the Griquas a losing bonus point as the Pumas claimed a 27-21 victory.

The scorers:

For Pumas: 
Tries: Kleinhans, Cloete, Mona
Cons: Van Staden 3
Pens: Van Staden 2

For Griquas:
Tries: Coertzen, Botha
Con: Swarts
Pens: Whitehead 3

The teams:

Griquas: 15 Eric Zana, 14 Kyle Steyn, 13 Tertius Kruger, 12 Johnathan Francke, 11 Adriaan Coertzen (captain), 10 Andre Swarts, 9 Christiaan Meyer, 8 Jonathan Janse Van Rensburg, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr (captain), 5 Pieter Jansen Van Vuren, 4 Shaun McDonald, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Marius Fourie, 1 Devon Martinus.
Replacements: 16 Abraham le Roux, 17 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 18 Jonathan Adendorf, 19 Kevin Kaba, 20 Renier Botha, 21 George Whitehead, 22 Koch Marx.

Pumas: 15 Gerrit Smith, 14 Jean-Paul Lewis, 13 Jerome Pretorius, 12 Hennie Skorbinski (captain), 11 Ruwellyn Isbell, 10 Justin van Staden, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Francois Kleinhans, 7 Lambert Groenewald, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Stefan Willemse, 3 Pieter Scholtz, 2 Mark Pretorius, 1 Khwezi Mona. 
Replacements: 16 Frank Herne, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Cameron Lindsay, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Carel Greeff, 21 Reynier Van Rooyen, 22 Sias Ebersohn.

Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant referees: Lourens van der Merwe, Mpho Matsaung
TMO: JJ Wagner