News
Cheetahs slug out the Griquas
August 08 2008
The Cheetahs ground out a sparkless 22-3 win over the Griquas in Bloemfontein on Friday, an ultimately dissatisfying one that came without a bonus point.
The match cannot be described as the most exciting of the season thus far, but the Cheetahs' coach Naka Drotske, will be happy with the result.
Captain Hendro Scholtz and Fabian Juries scored for the Cheetahs in the first half of the match to help the home side to a 12-3 lead at the break.
Juries scored after Springbok full-back, Bevin Fortuin, launched a counter attack from just outside his own 22. Juries also added some of his magic chip-kicking the defence of Griquas and regathering to score.
Referee JC Fortuin sent two Griqua-players, Cilliers Coetzer and Gavin Passens, to cool off for ten minutes in the first half. This didn't help the cause of the visiting team.
Griquas lock, Wayne van Heerden gave the Cheetahs a hard time in the line-outs where he poached more than half of the Cheetahs' throw-ins.
Flanker Rohan Kitshoff also played a huge part in his team's efforts to slow the ball down at the breakdowns. Fortuin was more than a bit trigger-happy taking his yellow card out of his pocket two more times.
He sent Van Heerden and Kobus Calldo of the Cheetahs simultaneously to the sin bin.
Wian du Preez, prop of the Cheetahs, scrummed like a man possessed putting the Griquas scrum under a lot of pressure where Ruan du Preez struggled against the Springbok prop.
Kabamba Floors, the flanker, also played well for the winning side before being replaced by Schalk van der Merwe.
The scorers:
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Scholtz, Juries, Van der Merwe
Cons: Rossouw, De Bruyn
Pen: Rossouw
For the Griquas:
Pen: Barnard
The teams:
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 Kabamba Floors, 6 Hendro Scholtz (c), 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 David de Villiers, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Riaan Kruger, 17 Phillip Lemmer, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Schalk van der Merwe, 20 Neil Powell, 21 JW Jonker, 22 Wilton Pietersen.
Griquas: 15 Bjorn Basson, 14 Gavin Passens, 13 Lafras Uys, 12 Riaan Viljoen, 11 MJ Mentz, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Heinrich Stride, 7 Wayne van Heerden, 6 Gareth Krause (captain), 5 Cilliers Coetzer, 4 Brendon Snyman, 3 Ruaan du Preez, 2 Hans van Dyk, 1 Albertus Buckle.
Replacements: 16 James van der Walt, 17 Bees Roux, 18 Jacques Lombaard, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Dougie Helmuth, 21 Egon Seconds, 22 Conrad Barnard.
Referee: JC Fortuin
Touch judges: Marius Jonker, Peter de Bruin
Assessor: Gerrit Coetzer