The Airlink Pumas played against Emerging Ireland in the second round of the Toyota Challenge Bloemfontein Stadium and if it was not for the lack of concentration in their defence early in the match they could have started their season with a great win. However, the twenty-one points scored by Emerging Ireland in the first fifteen of the match minutes proved to be the difference with the Irish winning 28-24.
Airlink Pumas started like a house on fire putting Emerging Ireland under pressure for the first five minutes. Thereafter Emerging Ireland started to speed up the play and scored three great tries to open up an early lead of 21-00. The Airlink Pumas did score a try at the end of the first quarter to trail 05-21 after the first twenty minutes of play.
The second quarter was a lot more even with the Airlink Pumas' dominance growing on the back of their powerful pack of forwards. A try off a 5m line-out maul was the only points scored in this quarter, reducing the lead of Emerging Ireland to eleven points. Emerging Ireland was in the lead with 12-21 with forty minutes still to play.
The third quarter was still played at a high pace with Emerging Ireland starting to dominate once again with the speed and precision with which they played the downfall of the defence of the Airlink Pumas. A try by Emerging Ireland resulted in them going into the final quarter with a 28-12 lead.
Two quick tries by the Airlink Pumas' winger Sebastiaan de Klerk made it a four points match, setting the game on fire. Unfortunately for the men from Nelspruit, the time ran out as they threw everything they had at the Emerging Ireland team. Emerging Ireland hang on during the last five minutes of the match to win by 28-24.
Scorers:
Airlink Pumas: Tries: André Fouché, Eduan Swart, Sebastiaan de Klerk (2). Conversions: Tinus de Beer (2).
Emerging Ireland: Tries: Chay Mullins, James Culhane (2), Jake Flannery. Conversions: Jake Flannery (4).
Teams
Pumas: 15. Devon Williams, 14. Jade Stiglingh, 13. Sebastiaan de Klerk, 12. Wiaan van Niekerk, 11. Etienne Taljaard, 10. Tinus de Beer (c), 9. Chriswill September, 8. André Fouché, 7. Kwanda Dimaza, 6. Jaco Labuschagne, 5. Shane Kirkwood, 4. Malembe Mpofu, 3. Ignatius Prinsloo, 2. Eduan Swart, 1. Corné Fourie. Replacements: 16. PJ Jacobs, 17. Etienne Janeke, 18. Simon Raw, 19. Anele Lungisa, 20. Franna Kleinhans, 21. Giovan Snyman, 22. Gene Willemse, 23. Diego Apollis.
Emerging Ireland: 15. Chay Mullins, 14. Ethan McIlroy, 13. Antoine Frisch, 12. Cathal Forde, 11. Andrew Smith, 10. Jake Flannery, 9. Michael McDonald, 8. James Culhane, 7. John Hodnett, 6. Cian Prendergast (c), 5. Brian Deeny, 4. Cormac Izuchukwu, 3. Roman Salonoa, 2. Diarmuid Barron, 1. Callum Reid. Replacements: 16. Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17. Josh Wycherley, 18. Sam Illo, 19. Tom Ahern, 20. David McCann, 21. Ben Murphy, 22. Jack Crowley, 23. Shane Daly.
05:57 Chay Mullins cut through the defence of Airlink Pumas to open the account of Emerging Ireland. (00-07)
10:52 James Culhane scored Emerging Ireland's second try. Emerging Ireland took a quick tap from a penalty whereafter Culhane timed his run to perfection, next to the resulting loose scrum, to force his way over the tryline.
12:55 Shane Kirkwood (Airlink Pumas) was sent off with a yellow card.
15:58 Jake Flannery scored Emerging Irelands' third try with the speed at which Emerging Ireland is playing proving too much for the defence of the Pumas, (00-21)
18:31 Airlink Pumas took a quick tap five meters from Emerging Irelands' tryline, whereafter André Fouché took a short pass from scrumhalf September from the back of the resulting loose scrum and force his way over the tryline to score Airlink Pumas' first points. (05-21)
28:58 Eduan Swart scored a try for the Airlink Pumas from the back of a 5m lineout-maul. (12-21)
52:31 James Culhane scores Emerging Ireland's fourth try after some brilliant interplay by their forwards and backs. (12-28)
60:27 Sebastiaan de Klerk ran for 40 meters after a huge scrum by the Pumas forced a turnover which was used brilliantly by the Airlink Pumas to launch an attack which resulted in the try. (17-28)
64:15 Sebastiaan de Klerk scored a brilliant individual try beating several defenders with his blistering speed in his 30-meter run to the tryline. (24-28)