Pampas crush hapless Boland

Johannesburg - The Pampas XV produced a superb performance to crush the Boland Cavaliers 65-23 in their one-sided Vodacom Cup match in Wellington on Saturday.

Pampas flyhalf Santiago Gonzales Iglesias gave a man of the match performance as he scored 31 of his side’s 65 points including two tries. The teams were fairly evenly matched in the forward battle, although Boland gave away too many kickable penalties in the first half.

The Pampas ran in eight tries, six of them in the second half. Manuel Montero and Martin Landajo both scored two tries each, while Iglesias converted six tries and kicked three penalties.

Boland opened the scoring in the first half through a try by winger Brendon April, but the Pampas hit back with a try and three penalties to take the lead midway through the first half.

A big turning point in the game came when, with two minutes left in the first half, Boland defended their line, but a charged down kick from scrumhalf Lucky Kebe saw the ball bounce free. Flanker Tomas de la Veiga managed to fall on the ball first to give his team a crucial score on the brink of half time.

The Pampas turned on the heat in the second half and produced some breathtaking running rugby, combining good handling, superb running lines and accurate off loading to bring Boland to their knees.

The best try of the match came from the Pampas when they did a set move from a scrum. Iglesias pulled in the defender and got the pass away to Javier Rojas who gave an inside pass that allowed Montero to score his first try in the left hand corner.

Scorers:

Pampas XV

Tries: Santiago Gonzales Iglesias (2), Tomas de la Vega, Manuel Montero (2), Martin Landajo (2), Martin Garcia Veiga.

Conversions: Iglesias (6), Benjamin Madero (2)

Penalties: Iglesias: (3)

Boland:

Tries: Brendon April, Cheslin Roberts, Ulrich Pretorius, Tythan Adams.

Penalty: Ricardo Croy.