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Blue Bulls demolish Pumas

Nelspruit - The Blue Bulls have continued their resurgence in the Currie Cup to get into the play-off places with a comprehensive 37-6 bonus point win over the Steval Pumas in Nelspruit on Friday night.

SARU's official websitereports that the Pretorians stepped up a gear in the second half after leading 10-6 at halftime, running in three more tries and handing the hosts their second consecutive loss at home.

The Bulls struggled to impose themselves on the Cheetahs last week, and it looked as if they would struggle against the enigmatic Pumas, especially as the scrum struggled and handed the hosts the advantage.

But the Pumas, who punch well above their weight, lost their game plan, and their principles, which are based on doing the basics well.

The first half was about as scrappy as you can get from two teams desperately trying to save their season. Both knew this was the final throw of the dice.

The Bulls were more generous in letting the Pumas off the hook by conceding eight penalties to three; including some in good positions. That enabled the hosts to lead 6-3 after 23 minutes.

Then the Pumas were hit with a double blow: No 8 Renaldo Bothma and flank Corne Steenkamp, their dynamic captain, going off within two minutes of each other. Bothma stayed away, having sustained a broken cheekbone.

Immediately after that, the Bulls broke through; scrumhalf Rudy Paige offloading on the switch with Jacques du Plessis who broke through a couple of weak tackles to power his way across the line.

Potgieter converted to give the Bulls a 10-6 lead, which they held through more scrappy play until halftime.

The Pumas struggled to chase the game, and numerous handing errors and indiscipline undermined their cause. Within a minute of the resumption, they gave the Bulls a penalty, which Potgieter slotted to bring up his 500th Currie Cup point.

Just six minutes later, the Bulls broke through again, when centre Burger Odendaal stepped and swerved through the Puma defence, taking the ball to within five metres of the line. From the quick recycle, Dean Greyling barged over. He conversion took the score to 20-6 and effectively beyond the toothless Pumas.

It was one-way traffic after that, with Piet van Zyl benefiting from a great line-break by Bongi Mbonambi and Deon Stegmann hauled over from a driving maul.

Scorers:

Pumas: 6 - Penalties: Justin Van Staden (2)

Blue Bulls: 37 - Tries: Jacques du Plessis, Dean Greyling, Piet van Zyl, Deon Stegmann; Conversions: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (4); Penalties: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (3)

Teams:


Pumas
15 JW Bell, 14 Ruwellyn Isbell, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Justin van Staden, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Jaco Bouwer, 6 Corné Steenkamp (captain), 5 Giant Mtyanda, 4 Marius Coetzer, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Frankie Herne, 1 Corne Fourie

Substitutes: 16 Francois du Toit, 17 DeJay Terblanche, 18 Uzair Cassiem, 19 RW Kember, 20 Dylon Frylinck, 21 Coenie van Wyk, 22 Jerome Pretorius

Blue Bulls
15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Rudy Paige,, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling

Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Morné Mellet, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Wiaan Liebenberg, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Jesse Kriel

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