Currie Cup Round Two
The second round of the Currie Cup finished up this weekend. The Natal Sharks won an upset over the Blue Bulls, the Mpumalanga Pumas trumped the North West Leopards, and Western Province skunked the Johannesburg Golden Lions.
Natal Sharks 34 Blue Bulls 28
The Blue Bulls opened the scoring with a Gerrit-Jan van Velze try in the 5th minute to give them an early 5-0 lead. The Bulls hung on until the 25th minute when Craig Burden crossed the line for the Sharks, and Patrick Lambie added the conversion to give them the lead 7-5. Jacques-Louis Potgieter gave the Bulls back the lead with a penalty. It was short lived however, as Lambie answered back with a penalty of his own, to give the Sharks a 10-8 lead at the half.
After the break, both teams came storming out, the Sharks striking first with a Lwazi Mvovo try coupled with another Lambie conversion to make it 17-8 at the 46th minute. Potgieter brought the Bulls back with a penalty. The Sharks did not rest as Keegan Daniel scored, and Lambie continued to kick the lights out with another conversion in the 59th minute. It was back and forth again as Dean Greyling managed a try of his own and Potgieter matched with a conversion to make the score 24-18 in favour of the Sharks. However, in the 77th minute, the game was put out of reach as Daniel added a second try only two minutes after a second Mvovo try. Gerhard van der Heever added a score late for the Bulls, finishing the game in a 34-28 Sharks victory.
Western Province 32 Golden Lions 0
Western Province came out like gang buster and was able to curtail an impressive first half output into a shutout victory over the Golden Lions.
Willem de Waal started the scoring off with a penalty only five minutes in, and two minutes later Pieter Louw added a try, giving de Waal an opportunity to notch the conversion. This run gave Western Province a 10-0 lead just 20 minutes into the match. De Waal, the best player on the field, hit three straight penalties to make the lead 19-0 heading into half time.
Just six minutes after half, de Waal continued to shine, hitting yet another penalty and making it 22-0. Conrad Jantjes gave de Waal a rest scoring a try in the 51st minute. This allowed Western Province to sit back a little and play defence before Pieter Myburgh added insult to injury in the 70th minute, making it 32-0.
Pumas 37 Leopards 32
The Pumas managed to come out on top, earning their first ever victory in South Africa’s first division this weekend with a win over the Leopards.
The scoring began with Elgar Watts, who put the Pumas up 14-0 with two tries on the 13th and 23rd minutes respectively. The Leopards battled back as Deon Scholtz notched a try of his own in the 27th minute. The Pumas pushed the lead further with a Dumisani Matyeshana try, however, it was quickly matched by Clayton du Rand, who closed the gap to 19-12.
The beginning of the second half saw Watts continue his strong day, hammering home two penalties for the Pumas. Du Rand tried to keep his team in the match with a penalty of his own, all in the opening 10 minutes. Scholtz crossed the line for another try, but it was negated by the Pumas Alistair Kettledas, who scored a try of his own. The Leopards attempted to push late, but it was not enough as Kettledas added a second try to put the game out of reach, and cement a 37-32 victory for the young Pumas.
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