Steval Pumas plans for the off-season

Oct 4 • General News • 1881 Views • Comments Off on Steval Pumas plans for the off-season

The Steval Pumas have one new injury from their final Currie Cup match against the Eastern Province Kings last Friday, as scrumhalf Emile Temperman suffered a concussion. With the 38-30 bonus point win against the Kings, the side ends the Currie Cup Premier Division in eighth place on the log with 10 points from eight games.

After a long season which also included 14 matches in the Currie Cup Qualifiers earlier this year, the players will have a well-deserved break until 31 October, when new signings will be finalised and the training schedule starts again in preparation for the next official match in April 2017.

“We didn’t get a break between the two major competitions this year, so we want the guys to relax and be away from rugby for a bit. The break will also allow some players to go for doctor’s follow-ups to assess injuries and decide on things like surgery,” said Steval Pumas coach MJ Mentz.

The players had a casual braai on the Saturday after the Kings game to do some final team bonding and bid farewell to departing players such as Renaldo Bothma and Heinrich Steyl.

Mentz said that work for the management team will continue as they meet to reflect on the season and discuss areas that need attention.

Some of the Steval Pumas squad will also be involved in the SARU Interprovincial Sevens tournament taking place at Mbombela Stadium on 21 and 22 October.

“We are going to be finalising the sevens team in the coming week. We have quite a few SA Sevens players in our squad so we’re expecting to be quite competitive at the tournament,” Mentz said.

The Steval Pumas sevens team are in good form, having beaten the Blue Bulls 22-19 in the final of the North Region Sevens Tournament in Klerksdorp this past weekend.