The Airlink Pumas captured their first SA Cup title when they defeated last year’s champions, Suzuki Griquas, by 39-14 in the final at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday evening. The hosts held a 19-7 advantage and kicked on in the second half for a deserved win.
The Pumas became the second team – after Griquas in the inaugural competition last year – to finish the campaign unbeaten after they dealt the men from the Northern Cape their first defeat in the competition in the league phase a few weeks ago, and on Saturday they repeated that feat in convincing style to capture the SA Cup title on home soil.
The match got off to a bad start for Suzuki Griquas when their front ranker Cebo Dlamini was red carded for a head-on collision in the seventh minute, which meant they had to play the next 20 minutes with 14 men.
In a sign of what was to come, the Airlink Pumas scored their first try barely a minute later, when hooker Eddie Swart went over at the back of a strong maul, which was converted by Danrich Visagie.
Predictably, the men from Mpumalanga then proceeded to dominate both possession and territory, leaving the defending champions to fend off wave after wave of attack from the rampant home side.
The Pumas used their forward dominance to set up two good tries for midfielder Sango Xamlashe to take the score to 19-0 with a quarter of the opening half remaining. For his first effort, the outside centre stepped his way inside two defenders to score near the posts, and he was on the receiving end of a looping skip pass to go over near the corner for his second five-pointer.
Griquas tried their best to stay in the contest, and they were rewarded with a rather fortunate try when speedster Gurshwin Wehr intercepted a pass to run in a long-distance try to make the halftime score 19-7.
The dependable Visagie slotted a penalty goal before he converted No. 8 Willie Engelbrecht’s intercept try to stretch the home team’s advantage to 29-7 shortly after the restart for the second half.
Another successful penalty goal by Visagie took the score to 32-7 before Mnombo Zwelendaba scored Griquas’ second try to bring the deficit down to 32-14.
But the Airlink Pumas had the last laugh when replacement front-ranker Dewald Maritz forced his way over the try line for their second try of the second half to all but secure them the SA Cup title.
Scorers:
Airlink Pumas: Tries: Sango Xamlashe (2), Eddie Swart, Willie Engelbrecht, Dewald Maritz. Conversions: Danrich Visagie (4). Penalties: Danrich Visagie (2).
Suzuki Griquas: Tries: Gurswhin Wehr, Mnombo Zwelendaba. Conversions: George Whitehead (2).