The Pumas pounced on a sloppy performance from Western Province and cruised to a five-try victory at a sunny Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

A shaky lineout and very poor handling undermined WP’s solid defence, while the Pumas backed an accurate set piece and a low rate of turnovers to ambush their more fancied opponents.

After a slow start to the first stanza, in which the hosts missed several early opportunities, WP’s Godlen Masimla saw yellow three minutes after the interval before Anele Lungisa dotted down for the Pumas, with Eddie Fouche adding the extras.

Tinus de Beer kicked a penalty to extend the visitors’ lead by three, but Kade Wolhuter quickly replied in kind.

Sebastian de Klerk then doubled his personal try tally after a spilled restart from WP, and Fouche duly converted.

Pumas skipper Willie Engelbrecht crossed out wide for the bonus-point try before Tapiwa Mafura touched down for an impressive 37-11 victory.

De Klerk opened the scoring with a try from inside WP’s 22. Fouche’s conversion attempt was charged down, but there was no denying him four minutes later from the penalty tee.

Angelo Davids scored for WP with a signature finish in the corner, after an incredible run by Tristan Leyds, but Wolhuter failed to add the extras.

Fouche missed a penalty to add to the Pumas’ total, only for Wolhuter to sink his shot from the spot to restore parity.

JJ Kotze got over the tryline to give the hosts the lead, but his effort was ruled out after the TMO adjudged him to have knocked on.