The Steval Pumas and Sharks XV are still the only teams in the Vodacom Cup with perfect records and held onto their positions at the top of the North and South Section, respectively.
They are followed, in the South, by the Argentinean Pampas, who have won three on the trot after a draw in the opening round, and in the north by the Leopards XV, who recorded an impressive win in Pretoria over the Vodacom Blue Bulls.
Former Springbok flyhalf AndrĂ© Pretorius was the Leopards’ hero as he kicked 23 points in the Potchefstroom team’s 33-26 win at Loftus B on Saturday afternoon. He landed eight of his nine attempts at goal to help his side to an unlikely victory after trailing by 14 points early in the second half.
The Steval Pumas stepped up a number of gears after the break and ‘won’ the second half 34-7, scoring almost a point a minute, as they beat GWK Griquas by an impressive 47-31 in Kimberley on Friday afternoon.
With 36 minutes gone, it was looking good for the home team, who were leading by 24-7 at that stage. But then the Pumas started playing some serious attacking rugby and tore Griquas apart in the second half, with Carl Bezuidenhout contributing 15 of the visitors’ points.
Also on Friday, the Down Touch Griffons scored three tries in the space of 19 minutes to beat the MTN Golden Lions for the first time in the Vodacom Cup since their victory in the opening season in 1998, when they won by 30-19 at the North West Stadium in Welkom on a Friday night.
Flyhalf Hansie Graaff was instrumental in the win – he kicked half the Griffons’ points with three conversions, two penalty goals and a 70th minute drop-goal.
In a bottom-of-the-log North Section clash, the Valke were too strong for the Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls, winning their match in Tzaneen by a convincing 69-7. A familiar name on the score sheet was that of former Springbok speedster Jongi Nokwe, who scored three of the Valke’s tries, with his teammate JP Mostert bagging four.
Round four action in the South Section kicked off in George on Friday evening, where Sharks XV flyhalf Fred Zeilinga, the top points-scorer in the Vodacom Cup thus far this season, delivered another impressive kicking display that helped his team hold off a brave South Western Districts Eagles by 26-22 at Outeniqua Park.
With 15 minutes to go, the Eagles were ahead by 22-16, but a fourth penalty goal by Zeilinga, as well as a converted try by replacement wing Sean Robinson with 10 minutes to go, was the difference between the two teams in the end.
On Saturday in Paarl, reigning Vodacom Cup champions DHL Western Province had to work hard to beat the last placed team in the South Section, the Border Bulldogs, by 22-13.
DHL WP scored three tries to two, having fought back from 0-10 down in the first half – the Province tries having been scored by flanker Chris Cloete, winger Devon Williams and replacement hooker Jody Reyneke.
“Generally it was a poor performance in front of a magic Paarl community, but I was pleased with a couple of individual performances like Cheslin Kolbe at 15, whilst (lock) Taz Fuzani made a promising debut,” said Western Province coach John Dobson.
Also on Saturday, the EP Kings showed that they probably enjoy playing away from home more when they beat the Toyota Free State XV by 17-13 in Bloemfontein. It was the Kings’ second away victory in as many matches this season. In their two home games, they drew and lost.
In the final match in the South, 2011 champions, the Standard Bank Pumas, played some scintillating running rugby in their convincing 65-23 win over the Regent Boland Cavaliers in Wellington.