Pumas 24
Emerging Ireland 28
Morgan Piek reports from South Africa
EMERGING IRELAND HELD on for a 28-24 win over the Pumas in Bloemfontein to remain unbeaten on their tour of South Africa.
The visitors led the game in the City of Roses 21-12 at the half-time break and were looking good to put another 50-plus points on the board, but the defending Currie Cup champions hit their straps in the second period to make it a tightly contested affair.
Had the Pumas made better use of their chances the scoreboard could easily have a different picture.
The scoring in Bloemfontein was opened in the seventh minute with Irish fullback, Chay Mullins, darting over for a converted try that stemmed from sloppy handling by the Pumas.
The visitors doubled their lead just minutes later following a quick tap five metres out from the Pumas tryline, with number eight James Culhane powering over.
The Emerging Irish started taking control of the game and matters were made simpler with the Pumas lock, Shane Kirkwood, in the bin for a dangerous clean-out.
The flyhalf, Jake Flannery, who had been having an impressive game spotted a gap and pinned his ears back for the visitors’ third try in just the 16th minute.
The Pumas managed to get on the board in the 20th minute when the number eight, André Fouche, managed to ground the ball following a quick tap after an Irish penalty for being offside. Captain Tinus de Beer was unable to add the extra two points from the conversion.
Eduan Swart scored the second try for the Pumas when he managed to ground the ball from a strong lineout maul with some ten minutes remaining in the first half. This time De Beer managed to convert the try.
Culhane opened the scoring in the second stanza following a period of sustained pressure, but this was facilitated through ill-discipline by the Pumas, which allowed the Irish to gradually work their way down the field.
The Pumas struck back with a brace of tries by outside centre Sebastiaan de Klerk to make it a four-point game. His first try came from a heel-against-the-head at the scrum, while five minutes later he brilliantly stepped the defender on the side-line to run in for his second score.
Emerging Ireland managed to weather the late charge by the team from the Lowveld to emerge as the victors.
The next game for Emerging Ireland will be on Sunday at 14:00 when they face the Toyota Cheetahs in their last match in South Africa.
Scorers for Pumas:
Tries: André Fouché (20th), Eduan Swart (30th), Sebastiaan de Klerk (60th, 65th)
Conversions: Tinus de Beer [2/4]
Card: Shane Kirkwood (yellow, 13th)
Scorers for Emerging Ireland:
Tries: Chay Mullins (7th), James Culhane (10th, 52nd ), Jake Flannery
Conversions: Jake Flannery [4/4]
PUMAS: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Jade Stiglingh, 13 Sebastiaan de Klerk, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Tinus de Beer (captain), 9 Chriswill September, 8 André Fouché, 7 Kwanda Dimaza, 6 Jaco Labuschagné, 5 Shane Kirkwood, 4 Malembe Mpofu, 3 Ig Prinsloo, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Corné Fourie.
Replacements: 16 PJ Jacobs, 17 Etienne Janeke, 18 Simon Raw, 19 Anele Lungisa, 20 Franna Kleinhans, 21 Givan Snyman, 22 Gene Willemse, 23 Diego Apollis.
EMERGING IRELAND: 15 Chay Mullins, 14 Ethan McIlroy, 13 Antoine Frisch, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Andrew Smith, 10 Jake Flannery, 9 Michael McDonald, 8 James Culhane, 7 Scott Penny, 6 Cian Prendergast, 5 Brian Deeny, 4 Cormac Izuchukwa, 3 Roman Salonoa, 2 Diarmuid Barron, 1 Callum Reid
Replacements: 16 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17 Josh Wycherley, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Tom Ahern, 20 David McCann, 21 Ben Murphy, 22 Jack Crowley, 23 Shane Daly.
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I thought Barcelona are over a billion in debt & now they are spending €1.5 billion on their stadium and they also want to buy Mohammed Salah?
Wha?
@O’Brien Michael: I’ve come to learn that when rich people and teams are in debt it’s not the same as us being in debt. They can always find someone else to lend them more
@O’Brien Michael: They have signed a huge sponsorship deal with Spotify including the naming rights to the Camp Nou. Once they satisfy the Spanish league funding requirements they can sign who they want.
Woe and betide any financial institution that try to foreclose on Barca
@thomas walsh: yes but surely someone at some stage is going to have to say enough is enough.
We are not even talking about being millions in debt we are talking billions now.
Barcelona just defy belief what they are at.
@Diarmuid: how much is the sponsorship deal worth Diarmuid?
@Diarmuid: did the tour of the nou camp about 7-8 years back,cost about 15 euros each at the time. Place was full of people,bus’s and bus’s everywhere.Think it costs about 60 now to do the tour won’t get as many doing it.
@O’Brien Michael: if memory serves me think it’s worth around €300 million over 4 years
@Joe Gorham: Joe I done the tour in summer 2019. Think it was around €30 each well worth. €60 certainly seems a huge increase.
@O’Brien Michael: This is an infrastructural project and the loans will be separate to the current debt to be paid back over 35 years. The idea is that the extra income from the expansion and upgrade will pay off the construction loans.
It’s also not just the stadium. There will also be a new Blaugrana indoor arena, offices, a hotel and a new museum.
@Diarmuid: it does lad I work with just back from Barcelona and he said it’s too dear now to do unless your a barca fan.
Ed Sheeran playing a heap of gigs
Cork county board are project managing the build. Should only cost about 3 Billion
accbank still handing out loans