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Cape Town - Pumas flyhalf JC Roos struck five penalties to give his team a narrow 15-13 win over the EP Kings in a nail-biting Absa Currie Cup encounter at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Friday.
The match ended in thrilling style as the Kings fought in vain for their first victory of the season. A breakout from their own tryline with minutes remaining saw them come within metres of scoring their second try of the evening. However, the Pumas defence held firm and an attempted drop goal which would have snatched victory drifted wide.
After trailing 6-3 at half-time and then 9-6 when Roos struck his third penalty in the 55th minute, the Kings hit back when a period of relentless pressure saw powerful prop Lizo Gqoboka surge over the line for the only try of the evening.
Fullback Scott van Breda added the conversion and the Kings took the lead for first time on the night, 13-9.
However, Roos's accurate boot proved telling in the final analysis as the Pumas forced two more errors in the Kings' half for the flyhalf to boot his fourth and fifth penalties, putting the visitors 15-13 ahead in the 74th minute.
Van Breda had a shot from the halfway line, 10 metres in from touch, to try put the Kings back in front, but that fell short. Then came the home team's final surge for victory, only to be thwarted by a desperate Pumas defence.
In the first half, the Kings crossed the line through scrumhalf Enrico Acker only for the try to be disallowed through an off the ball incident which EP lock Steven Sykes spend 10 minutes in the sin bin.
Scorers:
EP Kings
Try: Lizo Gqoboka
Penalties: Scott van Breda (2)
Conversion: Van Breda
Pumas
Penalties: JC Roos (5)
Teams:
EP Kings
15 Scott van Breda, 14 Siyanda Grey, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 JP du Plessis, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Karlo Aspeling, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Jacques Engelbrecht, 6 Thembelani Bholi, 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Steven Sykes (captain), 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Substitutes: 16 Lizo Gqoboka, 17 Edgar Marutlulle, 18 Simon Kerrod, 19 Cameron Lindsay, 20 Paul Schoeman, 21 Kevin Luiters, 22 Hansie Graaff
Pumas
15 JW Bell, 14 Bernado Botha, 13 Jerome Pretorius, 12 Stefan Watermeyer (captain), 11 Rosco Spekman, 10 JC Roos, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jason-Colin Fraser, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Rudi Matthee, 3 Khwezi Mona, 2 Frank Herne, 1 Corne Fourie
Substitutes: 16 Francois du Toit, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Giant Mtyanda, 19 Jaco Bouwer, 20 Reynier van Rooyen, 21 Justin van Staden, 22 Hoffmann Maritz
