The Airlink Pumas went back-to-back on the road to get their Carling Currie Cup campaign back on track, with a 33-31 (halftime 19-14) fourth-round victory against a brave but serially ill-disciplined Vodacom Bulls XV at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
The nail-biting win followed their 20-15 downing of the Sanlam Boland Cavaliers in Wellington in round three, and temporarily catapulted the Lowvelders to third on the log as a result, behind the defending champion Suzuki Griquas and Fidelity ADT Lions, respectively.
The Airlink Pumas hold on for a big win at Loftus in the Carling #CurrieCup 🤏 pic.twitter.com/x4gqgOPxqn
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 8, 2026
For the Bulls, a fourth loss on the trot looks likely to put paid to any Pretoria playoff hopes, even with three rounds still remaining.
The visitors looked to have laid the groundwork for the win in a first-quarter blitz that netted three tries, to 22-year-old right wing Alfondso Isaacs, talismanic No 8 and skipper Willie Engelbrecht and lock JJ Scheepers, during which the Bulls hardly got a sniff of the opposition half.
The Bulls were their own worst enemies, a 20-minute red card to flanker Abongile Nonkontwana after just 12 minutes and two yellow cards, to Junior Springbok captain and hooker Siphosethu Mnebelele and replacement Cephas van Biljon, in the 32nd and 34th minutes respectively, halting any chance of them gaining a foothold in the match.
As was the case in their match in Wellington against the Cavaliers, the Bulls’ discipline left a lot to be desired: no team at this level can concede 10 penalties in the opening half-hour and expect to lay any kind of solid platform for victory.
This negative trend was to last for the entire 80 minutes here.
UNLIKELY FIGHTBACK
But rugby is sometimes all about hanging in there when the opposition have you against the ropes, and the Pumas will be kicking themselves for not having been out of sight at the break, and ultimately thanking their lucky stars for coming away from Loftus with five points.
A combination of poor finishing by the Pumas, together with bravery at close quarters from a Bulls team down to 12 men at one stage, somehow kept the home side in the game – at least on the scoreboard.
First it was Isaacs who went from hero to villain when an early tackle on Johannes gifted the Bulls a penalty try on 23 minutes.
Lock Jonathan Eloff then capitalised on the Pumas’ inaccuracy when he barged over deep into first-half injury time for scrumhalf Keagan Johannes to convert and, against all rugby logic, make it a five-point game at the break.
The home team’s unlikely fightback would no doubt have prompted a tongue-lashing of note from Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse in the changing rooms, but his words didn’t initially appear to have the desired effect as it was the Bulls who came out snorting instead.
The 20-year-old Mnebelele made up for his earlier indiscretion with a try under the posts after 47 minutes, Johannes chipping over the conversion to give the hosts the lead for the first time: 21-19.
Things only got worse for the men in pink when flanker and former Durban club player Ntsika Fisanti was yellow-carded in the 48th minute for a shoulder-high tackle – the fifth card to be handed out by referee Dylen November on the day.
Replacement hooker Jan-Henning Campher, a burly bundle of energy, proved to be just the tonic the Pumas needed, the first of his two short-range tries after 55 minutes, converted by the 26-year-old Fleurs, handing the initiative back to the Lowvelders just when it seemed the Bulls were gaining an unlikely upper hand.
FRANTIC FINALE
The hosts, however, continued to leak penalties – the count went beyond 20 just after the hour mark – and at this level, no team can ride their luck indefinitely.
And yet that is exactly what the under-fire Bulls somehow did, at least until the final minutes: the Pumas kicked a 21st penalty to the corner on 62 minutes from which a rolling-maul try seemed inevitable, only for lock Sintu Manjezi and his fellow forwards to succeed in forcing a maul turnover.
That score sparked a frantic final-quarter during which the game opened up and possession was constantly turned over by both sides.
The Bulls drew level after the Pumas had carried over and conceded a five-metre try, late replacement prop Sandi Msengana piling over on debut to set up an ‘anything goes’ final 10 minutes.
Manjezi become the sixth recipient of a yellow card on the day as he and his side tried to hold out the Pumas on their own line.
Campher’s brace from the resultant lineout drive with five minutes to go, converted by Fleurs, gave the Pumas a seven-point buffer as the sands of time began to run out. 33-26.
But no one gave the surrender script to the Bulls, fullback Hakeem Kunene diving over at the left-hand corner after 78 minutes to cut the deficit to just two points.
But Johannes sliced the conversion under the pressure of the shot-clock and it was the Pumas who held out for the win.
Scorers:
Airlink Pumas 33 – Tries: Alfondso Isaacs, Willie Engelbrecht, JJ Scheepers, Jan-Henning Campher (2); Conversions: Nevaldo Fleurs (4).
Vodacom Bulls XV 31 – Tries: Penalty try, Jonathan Eloff, Siphosethu Mnebelele, Sandi Msengana, Hakeem Kunene; Conversions: Keagan Johannes (2).