WP win boot skirmish at Newlands
Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:40
Western Province beat the Cheetahs 9-3 in a dull match on a dull day at Newlands on Saturday afternoon.
First class rugby does not come much duller than this. Granted that it has been raining in Newlands a lot lately and especially this weekend but it rained little during the match, the field has 100% drainage and the surface, artificial in its base, was wet but perfect. \It was not cold. The conditions were not the cause of it.
In days of yore Newlands would have been a vlei by this time, but not since the ground has been improved and is seldom in use.
In New Zealand in wind and rain and cold, the All Blacks and the Springboks were able to catch and pass a rugby ball. At Newlands this happened only towards the end when in desperation the Cheetahs tried to score a try. They did not look like scoring a try, but they tried at least.
In fact neither side really looked like scoring a try. The Cheetahs had two five-metre scrums but you never felt that they would score a try.
There was occasionally a short burst of cheering but mostly the sound at Newlands was DOEF - the thud of boot on ball.
They kicked. Chris Rossouw was once regarded as a genius in the making, an embryo Michael du Plessis. Eccentricity has gone and been replaced by a focus on the boot, His left boot is the centre of his game. Perhaps this is what a spell in France, the home of flair, does for a player. If he did not kick, Bevin Fortuin did. Then when they got Tewis de Bruyn on in the place of Neil Powell, they had three kickers.
Western Province had three kickers all along - mainly Willem de Waal but also Alastair Siegelaar and occasionally Gio Aplon who clearly would not have wanted to kick. When eventually Western Province substituted podgy Siegelaar of the uncertain hands and delayed service with Paul Delport, who came on to cheers of relief, things looked better for a short while till he also became a kicker.
It was a drab game and an untidy one.
In the first half Western Province put the ball into just two scrums and both of those came from knock-ons by the Cheetahs when Western Province were playing with the ball. That is a gauge of how little the Cheetahs passed the ball. Even well into the second half when they sought a try and kept the ball for a long period their phases were really just one-pass affairs. Passing came in spasms.
The scoring was made up only of penalties - three to Western Province to one for Cheetahs. De Waal missed two and kicked three. Rossouw missed two and kicked one.
Rossouw missed but then when Eddie Fredericks was penalised at a tackle, he goaled one. 3-0 after 16 minutes.
The Cheetahs had a spasm of attack and Jongi Nokwe of the long stride and willowy body was tackled out at the corner. After the subsequent line-out the Cheetahs had two five-metre scrums. They came when Siegelaar passed a horrible pass to De Waal.
When Powell was penalised at a tackle, De Waal again goaled. 6-0 after 29 minutes - long kick from 40 metres out and five metres in from touch.
That was the half-time score - 6-0. The second half would also produce six points.
The first came after some spasmodic Cheetah passing that produced a penalty at a tackle. 6-3 after 47 minutes.
The crowd found a knock-on to get excited about. Aplon kicked an up-and-under and Schalk van der Merwe dropped it. Aplon was there to gather and the Cheetahs had to scramble in defence, in the process conceding a penalty which De Waal goaled. 9-3 after 51 minutes.
Here endeth the scoring. It did not end all semblance of scoring as after this De Waal missed with a penalty from the half-way line and then had a drop charged down by Adriaan Strauss, and Western Province got the ball to Chavhanga which raised a cheer of desperate hope.
It was not a memorable match though Western Province would probably be happy to bank the four points and the Cheetahs also got a point. What the point was to the match is was not obvious.
Scorers:
For Western Province:
Pens: De Waal 3
For Cheetahs:
Pen: Rossouw
Teams:
Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Dylan Des Fountain, 12 Gcobani Bobo (captain), 11 Wylie Human, 10 Willem De Waal, 9 Alastair Siegelaar, 8 AJ Venter, 7 François Louw, 6 Pieter Myburgh, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Francois Van Der Merwe, 19 Justin Melck, 20 Paul Delport, 21 Isma-eel Dollie, 22 Morgan Newman.
Free State Cheetahs: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 Hendrik Meyer, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Chris Rossouw, 9 Neil Powell, 8 Schalk van der Merwe, 7 Hendro Scholtz (captain), 6 Heinrich
Brüssow, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Jaco du Toit, 17 Phillip Lemmer, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 JW Jonker, 22 Fabian Juries.
Referee: Craig Joubert
Touch judges: Theuns Jonker, Roderick Barry
Television match official: Willie Roos
