News

Cheetahs scrape past Boland

August 02 2008

Defending Currie Cup champions the Free State Cheetahs battled their way to a 15-10 away victory over a spirited Boland Kavaliers team in Wellington on Saturday.

The visitors led Boland 5-0 at half time and outscored their hosts two tries to one to claim a hard fought victory.

The Free Staters grew increasingly frustrated by Boland's lion-hearted defence in the first half and their moves became more and more ragged as they began to rush the tempo of their attack.

Naka Drotské's troops finally pulled off the win however thanks to a near perfect display of line-out skills, and a change of tactics in the second half as they ran straighter lines and showed more patience.

Unlike last week's try festival in Bloemfontein, the defending champions could only cross the opposition line twice with tries coming from left winger Fabian Juries and hooker Richardt Strauss, while fly-half Chris Rossouw added a conversion and a penalty.

Boland full-back Justin Peach converted winger Danwell Demas' second half try and added a penalty.

The home team were starved of possession and whenever they did get their hands on the ball, it was used to test the Cheetahs' back-three under the high ball, forcing the Free Staters to scramble in defence of several promising Boland line-breaks.

The Cheetahs loose trio had their hands full with a Boland scrum that performed admirably - two tightheads were proof of the pressure being applied in the set piece.

The Cheetahs finally broke the deadlock, just seconds before the half-time hooter when full-back Bevan Fortuin broke the line from a line-out deep in Boland territory before being brought to ground inside the 22. The ball was recycled to Meyer Bosman, and the centre drew two defenders to put a speeding Juries over for the opening try.

Boland bounced right back though, taking the lead with a converted try soon after the restart when Demas latched onto an unclaimed kick-off. Two phases later fly-half Isma-eel Dollie nudged a perfectly weighted grubber kick through for the right winger, who touched down.

Full-back Peach increased the lead with 15 minutes to go when he banged over a 32-metre penalty after Cheetahs hooker Richardt Strauss was blown up for a high tackle.

Strauss made amend four minutes later when he dived over to score after more good work from the Cheetahs in the line-out. Rossouw's touchline conversion, his first successful kick of the afternoon, gave the visitors a two-point lead.

Boland never gave up and continued to attack but Rossouw sealed the win with a penalty with three minutes to play.

The win lifts the Cheetahs to 23 points and second place on the standings. The Kavaliers earned a bonus point, but remain in last place.

The Scorers

For Boland Kavaliers:

Try: Demas

Con: Peach

Pen: Peach

For Free State Cheetahs:

Tries: Juries, Strauss.

Con: Rossouw

Pen: Rossouw

Boland: 15-Justin Peach, 14-Danwel Demas, 13-Cornell Hendricks, 12-Lionel Cornelius, 11-Alvin Hugo, 10-Isma-eel Dollie, 9-Neil Papier, 8-Dries van Schalkwyk (capt), 7-Frankie Horne, 6-Zolani Mofu, 5-Bradley Mockford, 4-Frikkie Spies, 3-WP Nel, 2-Clemen Lewis, 1-Jean Botha.

Replacements: 16-Pieter Wium, 17-Janro van Niekerk, 18-Cecil Kemp, 19-Whalied Heyns, 20-Marnus Hugo, 21-Kobus Meintjies, 22- Jacquin Jansen.

Cheetahs: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Fabian Juries, 10 Chris Rossouw, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Duanne Vermeulen, 7 Schalk vd Merwe, 6 Kabamba Floors, 5 Barend Pieterse (c), 4 David de Villiers, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.

Replacements: 16 Jaco du Toit, 17 Phillip Lemmer, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Neil Powell, 21 JW Jonker, 22 Wilton Pietersen.

Referee: Christie du Preez

Touch judges: Matt Kemp, Linston Manuels

Assessor: Eugene Daniels