Pumas can taste victory
The Pumas caused the upset of the season when they stunned heavyweights, the Xerox Golden Lions 43-20 in a semi-final played in Johannesburg last Friday.
The Steval Pumas, the only provincial rugby team campaigning in the Vodacom Cup, will make their second appearance in the final when they take on DHL Western Province on Saturday.
The Pumas caused the upset of the season when they stunned heavyweights, the Xerox Golden Lions 43-20 in a semi-final played in Johannesburg last Friday.
The final will be hosted at DHL Newlands Stadium in Cape Town for the first time.
Guided by Corne Steenkamp and MJ Mentz, who only recently took over the coaching reins after Jimmy Stonehouse resigned to join a Japan-based team, the team will be determined to win the trophy for the first time.
On their way to the finals, the Pumas defeated the 2014 Vodacom Cup champions, GWK Griquas in a quarter-final before humiliating the 2013 champs, the Lions.
Their impressive record hasn’t gone unnoticed and they received praise from the MEC for sports in the province, Norah Mabena-Mahlangu, who labelled MJ Mentz’s boys winners and the pride of the province.
“The province is still in a state of euphoria following the Pumas’ victory which gained them a place in the Vodacom Cup final.
The people of the province are in a jovial mood and excited in anticipation of the Pumas bringing the cup home.
“We would like to urge all those who have the means to make the trip to Cape Town, to go there and support our boys,” said Mabena-Mahlangu.
“It doesn’t matter what happens in the final, because our boys are winners already.
They became champions the moment they booked themselves a place in the final showdown in Cape Town,” she concluded.
