Sharks stun Pumas, Bulls gore Griquas in Currie Cup

A 14-man Sharks team stunned the table topping Pumas 19-12, while the Bulls gored the Griquas 40-3 in the two Currie Cup clashes battled out on Friday night.

The Sharks produced a gritty performance to upset the previously unbeaten and table topping Pumas in their match-up at Kings Park in Durban.

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The Pumas went into the game having won all four of their Currie Cup matches relatively comfortably and were favourites to continue that run despite being away from home.

However despite the Sharks being reduced to 13-men for 10 minutes in the second half and then 14 for the final 20 minutes, the Pumas were unable to claw their way back, giving the Sharks a superb battling victory.

It was a strong first half showing from the hosts that set them on their way to the win, as an early converted try from scrumhalf Tiaan Fourie, plus three penalties from the boot of flyhalf Fred Zeilinga gave them a good 16-0 lead at the break.

It was in the second half that the drama started as in the 49^th minute the Pumas were rumbling a maul towards the try line when it was brought down illegally, with ref having little choice but to award a penalty try.

However a scuffle then broke out and Sharks flank Corne Rahl headbutted an opposing player, leading to him being red carded, while prop Dian Bleuler also received a yellow card for cynically bringing down the maul.

At 16-7 with two players off the park, the Pumas would have been confident of staging a comeback, instead it was the Sharks who seemed reinvigorated as they bashed away at the visitors line until receiving a penalty in front in the 57^th minute which Zeilinga popped over.

An unconverted 65^th minute try to Pumas hooker Llewellyn Classen then brought them into striking distance at 19-12, but a bullish Sharks outfit held out brilliantly over the final 15 minutes to seal the win.

Losing streak broken

The Bulls broke a 10-match losing streak in all competitions as they handed the Griquas a six try to nil drubbing at Loftus Versfeld.

It was a full strength Bulls team named to end a dreadful run of form, with all of their star players in action after they were knocked out of the Champions Cup competition last weekend.

They were led by a powerful forward performance that set them up for the victory, with their set piece dominance and strong runs from the pack constantly putting the Griquas on the back foot.

Lock Ruan Vermaak and prop Mornay Smith powered their way over for early tries, either side of a penalty from Griquas flyhalf George Whitehead, as the Bulls took a 12-3 lead after 18 minutes.

More strong forwards play led to flank Cyle Brink crashing over in the 26^th minute, while a stunning counter-attack from fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse put scrumhalf Embrose Papier away for their bonus point try in the 36^th minute.

Flyhalf Chris Smith knocked over three of the four conversion attempts in the first half, for a 26-3 lead at the break, and landed five of his six shots at goal on the night.

The second half was a quieter affair, but the Bulls still added two converted tries to the score in the third quarter.

Arendse was at the heart of another superb attack to put in wing David Kriel to score, while prop Gerhard Steenkamp ran a perfect line to power his way over the whitewash to put the home side up 40-3 after 57 minutes.

A scrappy final quarter followed as the home side unloaded their bench and the Griquas desperately tried to get on the board again, but it wasn’t to be as the Bulls secured a dominant first win of the competition.