Pumas scare could work in Emerging Ireland's favour

The Pumas dominated large parts of the final hour and there was a very real threat of them pulling off a remarkable comeback win.

Scott Penny of Emerging Ireland, right, passes to teammate Diarmuid Barron during the Toyota Challenge match between Airlink Pumas and Emerging Ireland at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Photo by Johan Pretorius/Sportsfile

Emerging Ireland will view Wednesday’s hard-fought win over an ambitious Pumas team as ideal preparation for Sunday’s tour-ending encounter against the Cheetahs.

Within the opening quarter of the midweek clash against the Pumas, the visitors led 21-0 and looked on track to rack up a scoreline similar to the 54-7 victory achieved in the opening match against the Griquas.

Instead, the Pumas dominated large parts of the final hour of play, and with two attacking opportunities late in the game there was a very real threat of them pulling off a remarkable comeback win.

Emerging Ireland ultimately did enough to hang on for a five-point win, though, and coach Simon Easterby was more than happy to take away the positives immediately after the game.

After all, this tour was always - at least partly - intended to test new players under pressure, and gauge the response when an opponent stressed them defensively. It’s these boxes that the tourists were able to tick on Wednesday, while impressive youngster James Culhane was one of the players who certainly put his hand up for selection consideration for the final game against the Cheetahs.

Culhane was the man who finished off Emerging Ireland’s most memorable passage of play on Wednesday, with the team effectively adapting to the senior side’s 2-3-2-1 attacking shape as they ran a move of exceptional interplay before the 19-year-old eighth man eventually burst over to score a crucial try in the final context of the game.

Easterby also pointed to this try as one of the highlights of what he still viewed as a highly productive outing in Bloemfontein.

“We certainly learned more from this game than we did at times against Griquas. We had to manage some situations when we were in their territory in terms of trying to keep applying the pressure or score points. When we held onto the ball, and played the way we wanted to, then we were hard to deal with. But that was a bit too far and few between.

“At times we coughed up the ball a bit too easily and couldn’t quite sustain the pressure you need at this level to put a side to bed. But there were some positives as well, such as the try scored by James Culhane, which was excellent. There were a lot of guys involved in that, and some good running lines, so although we will be disappointed to have let the Pumas back into the game, there were lots of good things too.” 

Easterby will now look to select the strongest possible team for Sunday’s Toyota Challenge ‘finale’ against a Cheetahs side that could feature the likes of Springbok legends Ruan Pienaar and Frans Steyn.

“We expected the Pumas to be a bit more expansive than Griquas and that was evident. Having said that, part of the issue was that we allowed them to do that too much. But one of the things we set out to do on this tour was to test the players in different environments and games, and there are loads of things we can learn from this performance. Individuals will certainly take away some learnings, and as a group we should only get stronger going into the last game after taking stock of some of the things we could have done better,” Easterby commented.

“We saw a bit of the Cheetahs’ recent game against Bulls, and they are quite like Pumas in that they want to play the game with a bit of width. They also have a forward pack that can mix it up physically, so it will be a real challenge. There’s a short turnaround, but we’re really excited for this one and hopefully we will have as many players available as possible for Sunday."