Error-ridden WP find Pumas hard to handle

Pumas 22 Western Province 12 IT’S not the fact that the Pumas ended an eight-year drought against Western Province that should hurt them the most, but rather everything that happened within those scrappy 80 minutes.

At the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit last night, Western Province produced one of their poorest performances this Currie Cup season, and it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the only few positives in their game were their defence, mostly in the first half, their scrummaging performance and wing Seabelo Senatla’s almost 80-metre intercept try that extended their lead at one point in the first half.

WP’s production in Mpumalanga was also tainted by a few tactical kicks that didn’t exactly impress, but Province will be most disappointed by the number of handling errors they made. And the ones that hurt the most were those balls lost on the gainline that disrupted promising attacking situations.

And after trailing 3-12 at the break, the Pumas started the second period with a lot of intent, but that firing start was certainly made much easier by a WP handling error that proved costly.

The hosts got their first try when WP fullback Craig Barry failed to secure his grip on the ball after a pass from Damian Willemse in their red zone. The ball unfortunately bounced all the way into the visitors’ in- goal area, and WP were cruelly punished for their mistakes when it came to handling the ball when Barry’s kick out of his in-goal area got charged down and grounded for the try by Pumas pivot Kobus Marais.

Another area that wasn’t a very pleasing one for the visitors was the driving maul. Earlier this week, WP captain Chris van Zyl spoke about the Pumas’s efficient mauling, and they reminded Province just how effective their driving maul can be with a couple of powerful displays in the second half – with one resulting in a try after a burst of power by replacement hooker Frank Herne that took him over for the five-pointer.

It would be very reasonable to question if Marius van der Westhuizen should have awarded the try that stretched the Pumas’ lead from 15-12 to 22-12 as the last pass to right wing Jerome Pretorius looked forward.

But regardless of whether it should have been a Pumas try or a scrum to Province, one thing’s for sure – the Capetonians will have to tidy up their game if they want to stay within the top four spots on the log with four weeks left before the playoffs.

Province next face Griquas at Newlands on Saturday (kickoff 5:15 pm).