Pumas advance to Currie Cup semifinal with win over Griquas

The Pumas advanced to the semifinals of the Currie Cup at the expense of the Griquas after beating them 27-17 on Friday at Windhoek Draught Park in Kimberley. 

They joined the Sharks and Cheetahs in the last four. The last place in the play-offs will be decided between the Bulls, Western Province and the Lions by the end of the round-robin stage weekend. 

For both teams the stakes were high.

Last year's 26-19 loss in the final was still weighing heavy, not only on the Griquas but the whole of Kimberley.

For a 3pm kickoff on a working day, the fans came out, with more than 5,000 spectators in the stands of the 11,000-seater venue.

Their rivalry was evident in the opening stanza, the players did not wait for their bodies to warm up, they began the match with high intensity. The physicality was a classic display of traditional South African rugby.

The home side was on top and whenever they ventured into the opposition half, the crowd cheered them on — but at the end of those attacking phases they would echo “ahh”.

The Pumas were resolute in defence as the Griquas could not get over the try line.

Seeing how difficult it was to get a try to the scoreboard ticking, the Griquas kicked in three points through the boot of George Whitehead.

The Pumas replied with one of their goal kicks via Tinus de Beer to make it 3-3.

In the 36th minute, the Griquas finally got their first converted try after flyhalf Lubabalo Dobela got the ball at first receiver from hooker Janco Uys and stepped his way past the Pumas defence towards the white line.

With the score 10-3, the Griquas wanted to go to the interval with the lead but it was not to be as the Pumas with their first attack after the siren got seven points after Deon Slabbert touched down on the try line.

The score was 10-10 at the break, it was an advantage to the Pumas and the Griquas were on the way out of the domestic competition. 

Coming out of the changing room, the Pumas were wearing a different kit, it was not their all-pink jersey but their alternative black and pink away strip.

The change of strips did not do the side from Mbombela any favours as the Griquas pinned them under pressure.   

Pieter Bergh's side got their second try after Dobela whizzed his way through traffic before offloading to flanker Thabo Ndimande who dotted down.

Whitehead added the extra two points to make the score 17-10.

As the defending champions, Jimmy Stonehouse's Pumas refused to be pushed over.

They immediately went in search of an equalising try to found it through Francois Kleinhas who bulldozed his way through a group of Griquas bodies on the line.

As the 17-17 score after the conversion by de Beer would suggest, the teams were evenly matched and they started calling on their benches to change things.

The Pumas through their big pack, asked a lot of questions of the Griquas defence when they went to their 5m line.

They managed to build up multiple phases, tiring the Griquas who doubled up on defence.

They ended up winning a penalty in front of the poles which was slotted in by de Beer to give his side a 20-17 lead with 15 minutes to play.

The Pumas had the number of the Griquas as they camped in their half, the home side could not find any exits through the boot of Whitehead.

The Griquas got a breather thanks to a knock-on from the Pumas when they were in attack.

The atmosphere was tense at Griqua Park as the game entered the final 10 minutes.

With the ball, the Griquas could not get out of their half, while the Pumas were happy with that.

The Pumas thought they had three points through a de Beer drop-kick attempt but it went wide.

That wouldn't matter as moments after they broke away to get their third try Wian van Niekerk scored a converted try to make it 27-17 and win the game. 

Griquas

Try: Lubabalo Dobela, Thabo Ndimande 

Conversion: George Whitehead (2) 

Penalty: George Whitehead 

Pumas

Try: Deon Slabbert, Francois Kleinhas, Wian Van Niekerk 

Conversion: Tinus de Beer (3) 

Penalty: Tinus de Beer (2)