Celebration of rugby as Pumas and Nelspruit club decimate opposition
• Tries: Stefan Coetzee (3)
• Tino Swanepoel (3)
• Ruwald van der Merwe (2)
• Ross Braude
• Theuns Pretorius
• Darnell Osuagwu. Conversions: Clinton Swart (7), Brandon Thomson.
The Airlink Pumas and Nelspruit Rugby Club both secured massive victories during a special day of rugby on Saturday, celebrating the club’s 100th anniversary in the process.
Last weekend was no regular day or weekend of rugby. Nelspruit Rugby
Club celebrated its 100th anniversary by welcoming Noordelikes Rugby Club from Pretoria while also hosting an SA Cup match between the Airlink Pumas and the Leopards. It also marked the continuation of a Pumas tradition, in which they play at least one match a season at Nelspruit
Rugby Club.
Nelspruit and Noordelikes’ clash acted as the curtain-raiser for the main match between the Pumas and the Leopards, but by no means was it a simple and slow encounter. The Nelspruit boys were determined to give the home supporters plenty to cheer about, running riot against their opponents from the Highveld.
Four first-half tries gave the hosts a 28-3 lead at half-time. They didn’t take their foot off the gas in the second half, either, scoring a further five unanswered tries to run out 59-3 victors to perfectly celebrate their 100th anniversary.
The main match between the Airlink
Pumas and the Leopards continued the same trend as the Pumas dug their teeth into the men from the North West, who struggled to show their claws throughout the game. Kicking off at 15:10, the SA Cup encounter quickly started going in the favour of the Pumas.
This was much to the delight of the sizeable crowd at the rugby club, with roughly 1 500 people in attendance. The Pumas crossed the whitewash to dot down a try on six occasions, fly half Clinton
Swart converted five of them. The Leopards responded with one unconverted try of their own to set the scoreline at 40-5 at half-time.
The Leopards played better in the second half, conceding fewer points. But the Pumas were a juggernaut that could not be stopped as they scored a further five tries, while the Leopards added another one of their own. This set the score at 71-10 when the final whistle blew, bringing to an end a riveting day of rugby at Nelspruit Rugby Club.
Swart’s seven out of eight conversions brings his tally for the season thus far to 32 out of a possible 34 kicks he has successfully slotted through the uprights. This gives him a kicking success rate of 94.12% going into their crucial must-win encounter with the Suzuki Griquas in Kimberley this weekend.
It will be the Pumas’ biggest test by far so far this season. They and the Griquas have been the pacesetters all throughout the first six rounds of the inaugural SA
Cup, and this weekend’s clash will in all likelihood determine who gets hosting rights for the final.
It has featured many a great name in the game of golf, including the legendary Bobby Locke, who took part in the first edition of the competition. Now, 56 years later, it has grown into what is considered to be the largest amateur golf tournament of its kind in the world.
Because of this, the Jock is renowned the world over, with some 800 golfers taking part and playing roughly 2 000 rounds of golf over the course of seven days. Golfers travel from anywhere and everywhere to take part in the competition.
A special component of this year’s Jock, held from May 5 to 11, will be a daily supplement publication that is produced and printed by Lowveld Media and is then distributed at Mbombela Golf Club every day, starting from the second day. It will include photos and results from the previous day’s play.
With Subaru as the main sponsor, the week-long tournament is set to be great for all involved, as per usual.
It will kick off with the Jock Open on Sunday May 5, and will feature a different sponsor for each day. These are NKP Consultants, Rooikat Liquors, Belgravia & Gelston, Bains and CocaCola, Renasa, Hino Mbombela and SA Breweries.