Cheetahs stay in the hunt
Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:40
The defending champion Free State Cheetahs showed superior form in finishing off neighbours Griquas and cement their place in the top two on the Absa Currie Cup standings with convincing 22-3 win in Bloemfontein on Friday.
A tough-as-nails, often brutal encounter could have descended into chaos if left unsupervised by referee JC Fortuin, who handed out four yellow cards, three of them to Griquas.
Griquas dominated the line-outs and the breakdowns which meant the Cheetahs struggled for any momentum and the match was hardly a pleasing spectacle for the paying public.
Naka Drotské's men missed out on a bonus point by only scoring three tries through the efforts of Fabian Juries, Hendro Scholtz and Flippie van der Merwe.
The home side were leading 12-3 at half-time and it was evident it was going to be a tough game for the Kimberley-based outfit.
Not banking a bonus point however could come back to haunt the Cheetahs at the business end of the season.
Conrad Barnard opened proceedings in the third minute with a successful penalty attempt and scarcely four minutes later Riaan Viljoen had two failed attempts at goal – first with a penalty and then a minute later with a drop-kick.
The home side scored their first two tries through Juries and Scholtz and the last, by Van der Merwe, on full time.
It seemed the visitors were struggling with their discipline as first Cilliers Coetzer and then Gavin Passens were sent off with yellow cards to cool off.
In the first minute of the second half Viljoen again went for a drop-kick, but again missed.
Two more yellow cards were dished out as the fracas between the players continued.
This time it was the Cheetahs' Cobus Caldo and Griquas' Wayne van Heerden who were sent off.
The loss sees the men from Kimberley not moving from the bottom of the standings.
The scorers:
For Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Scholtz, Juries, Van der Merwe
Cons: Rossouw, De Bruyn
Pen: Rossouw
For Griquas:
Pen: Barnard
Yellow cards: Cilliers Coetzer (Griquas, 11), Gavin Passens (Cheetahs, 24), Cobus Calldo (Cheetahs, 60), Wayne van Heerden (Griquas, 60)
Teams:
Free State Cheetahs: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Fabian Juries, 10 Chris Rossouw, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Kabamba Floors, 6 Hendro Scholtz (captain), 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 David de Villiers, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Richard 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
