A brace of tries by Airlink Pumas fullback Devon Williams and a gutsy effort was enough to score a massive 20-10 upset win over the Cell C Sharks in their Carling Currie Cup match in Durban on Friday night.
If the scoreline made it look as if the game was a lot closer, it wasn’t. The Pumas defence and their forwards controlled the game for large portions while the Sharks, when they got their maul going and found some momentum looked unstoppable.
The problem for them was it was only for a few minutes in the game as the Pumas had all the answers and the Sharks had all the unforced errors.
Perhaps that is a bit harsh, but a nuggety team like the Pumas were always going to be a tough ask for a side that has been heavily concentrating on Vodacom United Rugby Championship action.
The visitors possess a decent pack, and some excellent firepower out wide, with some level heads in marshalling the troops in Tinus de Beer and Eddie Fouche, both of whom had good nights behind the pack.
For the first half the Sharks simply didn’t look as if they were firing on all cylinders. There were patches of good play - such as the snap drop goal from Boeta Chamberlain, but for the most part they looked like a team of individuals rather than a squad that should be a lot better on their home turf.
The Pumas were headstrong, using Willie Engelbrecht and several of their battering rams to hit up front before finding a lot of space out wide - the fact that both tries for Williams featured the same mantra made it so much easier for them. They simply went up the middle, found space and shunted the Sharks backwards, then spread the ball wide - one through a long bullet pass - for Williams to run in the tries untouched.
Scrumhalf Chriswill September was the catalyst in both tries as his quick service and vision were massive in getting Williams into the space to score.
At 17-3 up at the break, the Pumas expected a response after halftime and a rolling maul was unstoppable for Fez Mbatha to go over to put the Sharks into double figures.
But too often the Sharks were their own enemies, and the Pumas had more than enough in reserve in defence to stop them.
Mbatha was held up with around seven minutes to go over the line from another maul, and the inconclusive evidence from the replays killed off the last chance the Sharks had of rescuing the game.
And the Pumas will head home smiling.
SCORERS
Cell C Sharks 10 - try: Fez Mbatha. Conversion: Boeta Chamberlain. Penalty: Chamberlain.
Airlink Pumas 20 - tries: Devon Williams (2). Conversions: Eddie Fouche (2). Penalties: Fouche (2).