Pumas (rugby team)

This article is about the South African provincial rugby union team. For the Argentine national rugby team (nicknamed Los Pumas), see Argentina national rugby union team.

Pumas

Full name

Pumas

Union

Mpumalanga Rugby Union

Emblem(s)

Puma

Founded

1969

Region

Mpumalanga Province

Ground(s)

Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit (Capacity: 40,929)

Coach(es)

MJ Mentz

Captain(s)

Stefan Watermeyer

League(s)

Currie Cup

2015 Currie Cup Premier Division

6th

1st kit

2nd kit

Official website

www.pumas.co.za

Current season

The Pumas (currently known as the Steval Pumas for sponsorship reasons) are a South African rugby union team that competes in the Premier Division of the Currie Cup and the Northern Section of the Vodacom Cup. The team draws their players from Mpumalanga Province (formerly known as the South Eastern Transvaal) and plays at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, having previously also played at the Puma Stadium in Witbank.

The Pumas are a well supported team throughout Mpumalanga Province, with large fan bases located in Witbank, Middelburg, Ermelo and Nelspruit. The Pumas average crowds of 13,000 at home Currie Cup matches.

History

Formed in 1969 as South Eastern Transvaal, the Pumas are one of the younger unions in the country. The team has never won the Currie Cup.

In 2006, they were coached jointly by Chris Grobler and Danie Gerber, but failed to win any of their 14 matches, finishing last on the log.

They won the Currie Cup First Division (the second tier competition) in 2005 and 2009, both times earning promotion to the Currie Cup Premier Division.

For their 2010 Currie Cup campaign, the Pumas appointed the seasoned Jimmy Stonehouse as coach. Though considered the underdogs of the Currie Cup competition, on 27 August 2010 the Pumas beat current champions the Blue Bulls 22–21 at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.^[1] They eventually finished 7th.

Honours

The team's major tournament wins include the Currie Cup First Division in 2005, 2009 and 2013 and the Vodacom Cup in 2015.

Current squad

The following players were included in the Pumas squad for the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series:^[2]

Pumas Currie Cup qualification squad
Props Marné Coetzee Jacques Kotzé Khwezi Mona Sabelo Nhlapo De-Jay Terblanche Hookers François du Toit Frank Herne Simon Westraadt Locks Wiehan Hay Jeremy Jordaan Hugo Kloppers Jannie Stander	Loose Forwards Carel Greeff Stephan Greeff Lambert Groenewald Reuben Johannes Dylan Peterson Marnus Schoeman Brian Shabangu Nardus van der Walt Scrum-halves Johan Herbst Reynier van Rooyen Emile Temperman Fly-halves Justin van Staden	Centres Tyler Fisher Wilmaure Louw Hennie Skorbinski Ian Truter Marlou van Niekerk Leighton van Wyk Wingers Bernado Botha Deon Helberg Ruwellyn Isbell Damien Janse van Rensburg Marcello Sampson Fullbacks Hoffmann Maritz Heinrich Steyl

(c) denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped. Several players are playing in the 2016 Super Rugby season – Vincent Koch is playing for the Stormers, Renaldo Bothma and Giant Mtyanda are playing for the Sharks, Chris Cloete is playing for the Kings and Francois Brummer is playing for the Bulls De-Jay Terblanche is on loan at French Pro D2 side Mont-de-Marsan. Damien Jansen van Rensburg, Jacques Kotzé and Leighton van Wyk signed short-term deals for the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series only.^[3]

References

↑ "Pumas shock Blue Bulls in Nelspruit". Planet Rugby. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
↑ "2016 Steval Pumas Currie Cup season". South African Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
↑ "Everyone gets their chance at Steval Pumas". Rugby15. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.

External links

Currie Cup

Teams

Seasons

Board Trophy:	1889

Amateur era:	1892 1894 1895 1897 1898 1899 1904 1906 1908 1911 1914 1920 1922 1925 1927 1929 1932 1934 1936 1939 1946 1947 1950 1952 1954 1956 1957–59 1964 1966 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 Div A Div B Tphy A Tphy B 1989 Div A Div B Tphy A Tphy B 1990 Div A Div B Tphy 1991 CC Div A Div B Div C Div D 1992 CC Cen A Cen B Rur A/B Rur B 1993 1994 1995

Professional era:	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Top 8 Bf Cup Qual 2001 Top 8 Bf Cup Qual 2002 2003 2004 Prem 1st 2005 Prem 1st 2006 Prem 1st 2007 Prem 1st 2008 Prem 1st 2009 Prem 1st 2010 Prem 1st 2011 Prem 1st 2012 Prem 1st 2013 Prem 1st 2014 Prem 1st Qual 2015 Prem 1st Qual 2016 Prem 1st Qual

Vodacom Cup

Teams	Blue Bulls Boland Cavaliers Border Bulldogs Eastern Province Kings Falcons Free State XV Golden Lions Griffons Griquas Leopards XV Limpopo Blue Bulls Pampas XV Pumas Sharks XV Simba XV SWD Eagles Welwitschias Western Province

Seasons	1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Rugby union in South Africa

Governing body

South African Rugby Union

National teams

Men's	Springboks Emerging Springboks 7's Amateurs U-21 U-20 U-19 Schoolboys

Women's	Women's 7's

Competitions

International	South Africa at the Rugby World Cup World Rugby Sevens Series South Africa Sevens World Rugby Under 20 Championship Super Rugby

Provincial	Currie Cup Vodacom Cup

Club	SARU Gold Cup Varsity Rugby

Youth rugby	Craven Week

Pumas squad – 2016

Forwards	Marné Coetzee François du Toit Carel Greeff Stephan Greeff Lambert Groenewald Wiehan Hay Frank Herne Reuben Johannes Jeremy Jordaan Hugo Kloppers Jacques Kotzé Khwezi Mona Sabelo Nhlapo Dylan Peterson Marnus Schoeman Brian Shabangu Jannie Stander De-Jay Terblanche Nardus van der Walt Simon Westraadt

Backs	Bernado Botha Tyler Fisher Deon Helberg Johan Herbst Ruwellyn Isbell Damien Jansen van Rensburg Wilmaure Louw Hoffmann Maritz Marcello Sampson Hennie Skorbinski Heinrich Steyl Emile Temperman Ian Truter Marlou van Niekerk Reynier van Rooyen Justin van Staden Leighton van Wyk

Coach	MJ Mentz

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.