Bulldogs lose their bite

Port Elizabeth - The Border Bulldogs lost out to an aggressive Steval Pumas team who won a patchy provincial tournament game 28-3 on an icy-cold day with a sharp westerly wind at the Buffalo City Stadium in East London on Saturday.

According toSuperSport.com, the visitors virtually camped on the Border tryline for the first six minutes of the match and there was little doubt at that point and throughout the match that the Pumas pack was the stronger and the Bulldogs had a tough encounter on their hands.

Pumas lock Stephan Greeff had a magnificent game at the line-outs while Pumas flank Marnus Schoeman played his heart out throughout and was a constant thorn in the Bulldogs’ side.

The only score for the Bulldogs came from a penalty kick from their outstanding flyhalf, Oliver Zono, who again had a good game for the Bulldogs.

During the first half there were some sniping individual runs from the Pumas’ backs, but these were quelled by the Bulldogs.

But just six minutes before halftime the Pumas were awarded three penalties, and taking a scrum for the third, their left wing Marcello Sampson broke through to score under the posts. The easy conversion was taken by Pumas flyhalf Justin van Staden, who earlier had missed a long-range penalty against the wind.

The halftime score was 7-3 in favour of the Pumas.

In the second minute of the second stanza Van Staden succeeded with a penalty from about 30 metres out and from then on it was basically all-Pumas as the home team struggled to hold back the rampant visitors.

Another penalty to Van Staden and a dashing try down the right wing by reserve back Tyler Fisher halfway through the stanza, put paid to any hope Border had of winning the match and then, shortly before the end of play, the other reserve back, Hennie Skorbinski, stormed over for a well-deserved try with two or three Border defenders holding on in vain after a melee to the right side of the Border posts. Van Staden had little trouble in converting.

And so it’s back to the drawing board for Border, who this season had the scalps of the Lions, the Sharks XV and Eastern Province under their belts.

Scorers:

Border 3: Penalty: Oliver Zono.

Pumas: 28: Tries: Marcello Sampson, Tyler Fisher, Hennie Skorbinski; Penalties: Justin van Staden (3); Conversions: Van Staden (2).

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