A brilliant performance with the boot by 19-year-old Nel Fourie laid the foundation for a big first Saturday when the Pumas not only scored their first Bankfin Currie Cup win against the Blue Bulls, but also achieved a hat-trick of three consecutive wins against their more fancied Pretoria neighbours.

The Pumas won convincingly by 22-13, after leading 19-3 at halftime. They led from start to finish, always looking the better and more composed side.

It took the Bulls 75 minutes to score their only try, which at best was poor consolation. The Pumas also scored a single try, but then they had Nel Fourie, who amazingly still played schoolboy rugby last year.

The former SA Schools flyhalf kicked the Bulls to pieces, scoring 17 points with five penalties and a conversion. He only failed with one attempt late in the second half.

The Pumas can really look forward to a great Currie Cup season. They play good constructive rugby, letting their opponents make the mistakes.

What impressed most was their ferocious first line
defence and the way they made something of their chances.

The Bulls, who threw everything at the Pumas in the last 20 minutes, looked like a team without a plan. They have a lot of homework to do, because their basic skills are not up to standard.

They performed well in the set phases, but finished off poorly.

The first half was a major battle between the packs of forwards and the two place-kickers, with the young Fourie having the better by far of the experienced Blue Bull fullback Casper Steyn.

Nel ended the first half with a 100 percent success rate, slotting home three difficult penalties and a conversion.

Steyn could only succeed with one of his four attempts at goal, making a mockery of Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer's description of Steyn as the best goal-kicker in South Africa.

The only try of the first half came in injury time when yet another midfield blunder by the Bulls saw speedster Jacques Juries going over after showing a clean pair of heels to Steyn.

In strong contrast to the way they played last Saturday as well as in the Vodacom Cup Series the Bulls did not try to run with the ball at all cost. They rather went for the supposedly safer option of percentage rugby, but failed dismally.

The Bulls looked as is they just wanted to get rid of the ball more often than less. In fact, they looked aimless.

Scorers:

Pumas - Try: Jacques Juries; Conversion: Nel Fourie; Penalties: Fourie (5).

Bulls - Try: Tiaan Joubert; Conversion: Jaco van der Westhuyzen; Penalties: Casper Steyn, Van der Westhuyzen.