The Boland Cavaliers showed their nettle with a dramatic 29-26 win at the death against the Pumas in their seesaw Currie Cup clash at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Friday evening (5pm kick-off) to go top of the log.
The Pumas were able to capitalise on the absence of flank Khwezi Mafu and fullback Tedder, who were sin-binned in quick succession early in the match, after a Tedder penalty had got the ball rolling for the visitors from Wellington.
Hooker Eduan Swart’s five-pointer off a rolling maul was sandwiched between Scrumhalf Ross Braude’s brace as the Cavaliers wilted under the relentless Pumas pressure. Deadly accurate Pumas flyhalf Danrich Visagie kicked all three conversions.
Hawies Fourie’s side seemed to be on the ropes with the score 21-3 after 20 minutes. The log leaders worked their way slowly into the match. However, they couldn’t make headway on the scoreboard and the score was unchanged at half-time.
View this post on Instagram
The Pumas weathered some early second half pressure before Swart barged over for his second try of the match off a driving maul to give the home side the bonus point.
Boland hit back with a Marcqwien Titus try in the right-hand corner after good build-up play had sucked in Pumas defenders, leading to the overlap. The try breathed fresh life into the Cavaliers’ attack and they started to dominate possession and territory.
When winger Xavier Mitchell added a second five-pointer for the Cavaliers, after brilliant interplay in midfield, the comeback was on. Dayan van der Westhuizen powered over the line in the 66th minute to cut the lead to four. The Pumas were hanging on grimly in the face of the Boland onslaught.
They eventually cracked under the pressure, conceding a penalty try and yellow card with minutes left on the clock as the visitors held on for the dramatic bonus point win.
Pumas 26 (21)
Try scorers: Braudie (2), Swart (2); Conversions: Visagie (3)
Cavaliers 29 (3)
Try scorer: Titus, Mitchell, Van der Westhuizen, Penalty try; Conversions: Tedder (2); Penalty: Tedder
