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Pretoria - Replacement flyhalf Carl Bezuidenhout kicked a last-gasp penalty as the Pumas snatched a narrow 44-42 (half-time 31-23) win over the Blue Bulls in their Vodacom Cup match at Loftus Versfeld B field, in Pretoria, on Saturday.
The Pumas had trailed 42-41 with time having already lapsed in the match but one minute after the hooter they won a penalty and Bezuidenhout held his nerve to leave the Blue Bulls heartbroken.
The visitors had seemingly been in control of the match as they stretched their lead to 41-23 with 13 minutes left to play.
But Pumas outside centre Wilmaure Louw was sin-binned which heralded the start of a fightback from the Bulls.
Two tries for the Bulls through replacement forward Roelof Smit and left wing Sampie Mastriet narrowed the gap to 41-37 with seven minutes left to play.
The hosts finally looked to have sealed a magnificent fightback when right wing Travis Ismaiel nipped over for an unconverted try with one minute left to play.
Flyhalf Tony Janties, however, crucially missed with his conversion attempt.
The miss meant that the Pumas still had a chance in the match and Bezuidenhout did enough to secure the win.
Jantjies ended the match with 17 points courtesy of four conversions and three penalties while Blue Bulls outside centre Dries Swanepoel crossed for a brace of tries.
The Pumas ran in six tries of their own to claim their second consecutive win after beating the Valke 62-0 in their first match of the season.
Scorers
Vodacom Blue Bulls - Tries: Dries Swanepoel (2), Roelof Smit, Sampie Mastriet, Travis Ismaiel; Conversions: Tony Jantjies (4); Penalties: Jantjies (3).
Pumas - Tries: Stefan Watermeyer, Vincent Kock, Marius Coetzer, Ivann Espag, Rosco Speckman, Renaldo Bothma; Conversions: Tiaan Marx (4); Penalties: Marx, Carl Bezuidenhout.
