Pumas humiliate Blue Bulls in Nelspruit

Mark Pretorius scored three of the Pumas’ eight tries as they crushed the Blue Bulls 51-15 during their one-sided Currie Cup clash played at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Friday night.

Pumas dominated in all departments for most parts of the game to register their first win over the Blue Bulls since August 2010.

It was horrendous night for ill-disciplined Bulls on the night of the first game for coach John Mitchell as they had Kefentse Mahlo, Jano Venter and Reuben van Heerden in the sin bin.

It was so bad that when Venter was shown a yellow card in the 45th minute, the Blue Bulls were reduced to 13-men as Van Heerden was already in the sin bin.

This victory has taken the Pumas to fourth on the standings with three wins from six outings while the Bulls have dropped to sixth with only two wins from the same number of matches.

Pumas got the scoreboard ticking after ten minutes when Mark Pretorius, who was named the man-of-the-match for his hat-trick, touched down for an unconverted try.

Bulls registered their name on the score-sheet for the first time from the boot of Joshua Stander who successfully converted a penalty kick five minutes later.

After 22 minutes, the Pumas were not to be outdone as they further increased their lead with a three pointer of their own from the boot of Kobus Marais.

Just before the half hour mark, Bulls missed an opportunity to move within two points of the Pumas when Joshua Stander missed his second penalty of the night from a good kicking position.

The disappointment of missing the second penalty was offset two minutes later when Andre Warner scored the Bulls’ first try to give the visitors the lead for the first time in the match which allowed Stander to easily convert.

The Bulls were reduced to 14 men after 34 minutes when Kefentse Mahlo was sent to the bin for a ‘cynical’ challenge and the Pumas took immediate advantage to reclaim the lead through a try by Thembelani Bholi that was converted by Marais.

Pumas scored their third try of the match through Stefan Ungerer after they mounted a powerful attacking line-out with the hooter already having sounded and Marais registered his second conversion.

Pumas started the second half the way they left off before the break by further increasing their lead through a try by Kwezi Mona in the 42nd minute to allow Marais to convert.

The Bulls mission of launching a comeback suffered a huge setback when Jano Venter was shown a yellow card after 45 minutes for a dangerous tackle on Mark Pretorus who recovered immediately to score his second try of the match that was not converted.

Bulls suffered another blow with the third yellow of the night to Reuben van Heerden for a dangerous tackle which was the visitors reduced to 13 men.

Mark Pretorius scored his third try and the sixth for the Pumas on the night as the Bulls continued to disintegrate and the home side continued to tighten their grip on the game with another try by Ruwellyn Isbell just after the hour mark.

With ten minutes remaining, Warrick Gelant scored a consolation try for the visitors but the Pumas were not done as they scored their eight and final try through Frankie Herne that was converted by Gerrit Smith to go over the 50 points mark.

Scorers

Pumas:          (22)     51

Tries: M Pretorius (3), Bholi, Ungerer, Mona, Isbell, Herne

Conversions: Marais (3), Smith (1)

Penalties: Marais

Blue Bulls:    (10)     15

Tries: Warner, Gelant

Conversions: Stander

Penalties: Stander

 - TimesLIVE