Pumas hunt down Griquas

Nelspruit - The Pumas have come from behind to beat Griquas 31-15 in their Currie Cup encounter at the Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit on Friday evening.

The Pumas opened their account in the second minute as flyhalf Justin van Staden slotted a 50 metre penalty to give his side a 3-0 lead.

Griquas broke the Pumas defence in the 29th minute, as flanker Marnus Schoeman burst over from a rolling maul for the visitors. Fullback Francois Brummer could not convert, but it gave Griquas a 5-3 lead.

Van Staden responded for the hosts with a penalty to regain the lead at 6-5.

The Pumas continued the scoring as winger Jerome Pretorius dotted down for his side's first try of the match, but Van Staden missed the conversion.

Griquas responded in kind with a try through flyhalf Dean Grant as he darted past a couple of Pumas defenders. Brummer converted to help his team to a 12-11 lead.

After the interval, Pretorius grabbed his second five pointer of the evening, but Van Staden again missed the conversion as the Pumas led 16-12.

Grant replied for Griquas with another penalty to close the gap to one point (16-15).

Pumas eighthman Renaldo Bothma scored a try on the hour mark. Van Staden converted to put the hosts in front by eight points (23-15).

Pumas replacement flyhalf JC Roos nailed a penalty in the 68th minute to stretch the Pumas lead to 11 points (26-15).

The bonus point try followed for the home team as captain Corne Steenkamp rounded of a driving maul right before the hooter sounded and claimed a hard-fought victory for the Pumas.

Scorers:

Pumas
Tries: Jerome Pretorius (2), Renaldo Bothma, Corné Steenkamp
Conversions: JC Roos (2)
Penalties: Justin van Staden (2), Roos

Griquas
Tries: Marnus Schoeman, Dean Grant
Conversion: Dean Grant
Penalty: Grant

Teams:

Pumas
15 Heinrich Steyl, 14 Ruwellyn Isbell, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Trompie Pretorius, 10 Justin van Staden, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Corné Steenkamp (captain), 5 Giant Mtyanda, 4 Frikkie Spies, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Swys du Toit, 1 Corné Fourie

Substitutes: 16 Frankie Herne, 17 Dee-Day Terblanche, 18 Marius Coetzer, 19 Jaco Bouwer, 20 Dylan Frylink, 21 JC Roos, 22 Rosko Speckman

Griquas
15 Francois Brummer, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Jonathan Francke, 12 Wayne Stevens (captain), 11 PJ Vermeulen, 10 Dean Grant, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Carel Greeff, 7 Ruan Lerm, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Jaco Nepgen, 4 Jonathan Adendorf, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 Steph Roberts

Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Maks van Dyk, 18 Hugo Kloppers, 19 RJ Liebenberg, 20 Abrie Griesel, 21 Doppies la Grange, 22 Niel Marais