Pumas thrash Griquas in opener

– The Pumas started their Currie Cup campaign on a high note by beating Griquas 42-19 at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit yesterday.

The home side started like a house on fire, showing great intent with ball in hand. Scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer got his backline going at every opportunity.

The visitors, however, did not allow the Pumas too much scoring opportunities in the first half. Jimmy Stonehouse’s team had all the possession in the first 25 minutes, but only had two successful Chris Smith penalties to show for their hard work. The Pumas got just re- ward for their positive play when Hennie Skorbinski powered over for the first try of the Currie Cup competition. Ungerer started the move with a clever tapkick and the forwards did the rest. Flyhalf Smith put the conversion over and the Pumas took a commanding 13-0 lead.

Griquas replaced hooker Khwezi Mkhafu who was struggling to find his jumpers in the lineout. The more experienced AJ Le Roux also brought more power upfront for the visiting side.

Griquas got their tales up when AJ Coertzen found a gap in the Pumas’ defence to score a try. George Whitehead succeeded with the conversion to bring the halftime score to 13-7.

Ungerer got the scoreboard ticking early in the second half when he dotted down against the post. Smith stepped up to add the extra two points. The flyhalf continued his kicking display with another penalty.

Smith then charged down a Whitehead kick to score under the poles and also slotted the conversion. With confidence booming left wing Neil Maritz and lock Marnus Schoeman also got fiver-pointers. Smith could only succeed with the first conversion for a total of 22 points. – ANA