Pumas Lowveld to face Blue Bulls in Northern Amateur Provincial final
Pumas Lowveld will meet the Blue Bulls in the Northern Amateur Provincial Competition final on Friday after the teams emerged victorious in a tough round of matches on Wednesday at the Nelspruit Rugby Club.
This will mark the first time Pumas Lowveld features in the final of the tournament, and it will be particularly special since they will take to the field in front of their home crowd.
In Wednesday’s second round of matches, Pumas Lowveld pipped the Lions 18-16, while the Blue Bulls defeated defending champions, the Leopards, 34-26.
In the other matches the Limpopo Blue Bulls beat the Valke 38-24 and the Blue Bulls Invitational XV registered a convincing 46-15 victory against Pumas Highveld.
The Blue Bulls capitalised well on their point-scoring chances in the first half against the Leopards and secured a 27-12 half-time lead. The Leopards, however, bounced back with intent to add 14 points to their score, while they limited the Pretoria side to only a converted try in the second half. This took their total number of tries for the match to two, one of which was scored by Steven Moir, who also added five penalties and two conversions for a personal tally of 24 points. Interestingly, the Leopards racked up four tries thanks to their strong second half attack.
The match between Pumas Lowveld and the Lions was hard-fought from the outset as both teams threw everything at one another on attack and defence. Such was the closeness of the match the Pumas Lowveld entered the break with a narrow 10-7 lead. The hosts managed to add their third try in the second half as well as a penalty, while the Lions added nine points to their score, which left them two points behind on the scoreboard when the final whistle sounded.
The Limpopo Blue Bulls were dominant in the first half against the Valke as they took an encouraging 38-3 lead. However, a strong second-half fightback by the Valke allowed them to take control after the break. They tightened up their defence significantly, which denied the Limpopo side from adding to their score, while they scored three converted tries. However, the Limpopo Blue Bulls’ strong first half showing proved to be enough to secure the victory for them.
The Blue Bulls Invitational XV were on the front foot from the start of their clash against the Pumas Highveld and managed to build up a 26-3 lead at the break. They continued to display their fine form on attack in the second half, which allowed them to extend their try tally to eight for the match. In return they limited the Pumas Highveld to adding only 12 points to their score for the 46-15 victory.
In Friday’s final round, the Valke will meet Pumas Highveld in the opening clash at 9am, while the Leopards will go up against the Lions, and the Limpopo Blue Bulls line up against the Blue Bulls Invitational XV. The grand finale between Pumas Lowveld and the Blue Bulls will start at 15h00.
Northern Amateur Provincial Competition, day two results (Wednesday, 9 September):
Blue Bulls Invitational XV 46 – 15 Pumas Highveld
Limpopo Blue Bulls 38 – 24 Valke
Leopards 26 – 34 Blue Bulls
Pumas Lowveld 18 – 16 Lions
Northern Amateur Provincial Competition, day-three fixtures (Friday, 11 September):
09h00 – Valke vs Pumas Highveld
11h00 – Leopards vs Lions
13h00 – Limpopo Blue Bulls vs Blue Bulls Invitational XV
15h00 – Pumas Lowveld vs Blue Bulls
Related Posts
« Sharks team to tackle WP EP U19 AND U21 VERSUS FREE STATE CHEETAHS PREVIEW »
