The Airlink Pumas stunned the Vodacom Bulls by comprehensively outplaying the hosts at Loftus Versfeld, clinching a fully deserved 41-7 victory in their Carling Currie Cup clash on Saturday afternoon.
It dealt the Bulls their first loss of the competition after picking up two big wins in the first two rounds.
It was a game of two halves after a tight first 40 saw the Pumas lead 10-7, before the visitors powered away with five unanswered tries in a scintillating second-half performance.
The Airlink Pumas dominate as the Vodacom Bulls taste defeat for the first time in the #CurrieCup 🏉 pic.twitter.com/0oIMPIm5Gn
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 9, 2025
The result lifts the Pumas temporarily to the top of the Currie Cup table, with the Cheetahs and Sharks still in action on Durban later today, and the only unbeaten side remaining, the Lions up against the Boland Kavaliers in Wellington on Sunday afternoon.
The first half was a fiercely fought affair, with neither side able to gain an advantage over the other, as they managed just one try each and the Pumas taking a tight three-point lead into the halftime break.
It was a scoreless first 20 minutes, as both sides had chances in the opposition half, but the defences came out on top, before the Pumas finally took the lead in the 21st minute through a penalty to flyhalf Danrich Visagie.
But the Bulls struck back seven minutes later as they started an attack in their own half, outside centre Cornel Smit initially made good yards, before Katlege Letebele put away his wing partner Riyaad Bam to step past a defender and go over in the corner, converted by fullback Boeta Chamberlain to take a 7-3 lead.
With just a few minutes to go to the break the Pumas hit back to lead, as they set up a lineout deep in the Bulls 22m, set the maul and hooker Eduan Swart surprised the hosts by bursting out of it and powering over for the converted score to take a 10-7 lead into halftime.
PUMAS GO HUNTING
The second half then belonged completely to the Pumas as they dotted down five tries to none from the home side to cruise away.
It started with two early tries, the first on attack in the Bulls 22m, flank Willie Engelbrecht received the ball and showed great strength to force his way over, converted by Visagie in the 45th minute.
Five minutes later the Pumas scored the try of the match as from a ruck near halfway scrumhalf Ross Braude sniped down the blindside, chipped ahead, reclaimed the ball and offloaded to lock Tiaan de Klerk to run in the unconverted score for a 22-7 lead.
Ross Braude and Tiaan de Klerk catch the Bulls napping 😤💤
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 9, 2025
📺 Stream #CurrieCup on DStv: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/FhM79ioPNi
Braude was enjoying a superb game and added his name to the try scoring list in the 62nd minute, after a monster scrum from the Pumas deep in the Bulls 22m earned them a penalty, with the scrumhalf taking a quick tap and diving over.
The final five minutes of the game then saw the Pumas add the cherry on the cake with two more scores, as replacement locks Hanno Theunissen and Andre Fouche both crashed over to secure a fantastic away result.
Scorers
Vodacom Bulls: Try - Riyaad Bam; Conversion - Boeta Chamberlain
Airlink Pumas: Tries - Eduan Swart, Willie Englebrecht, Tiaan de Klerk, Ross Braude, Hanno Theunissen, Andre Fouche; Conversions - Danrich Visagie (4); Penalty - Visagie