Cheetahs race past faltering Griquas
Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:51
Griquas, the early pace setters, continued their slide down the Currie Cup standings when they slipped to a demoralising 13-58 defeat at the hands of a rampant Free State Cheetahs team in Kimberley on Saturday.
Following their slow start to the season, where they lost their first four matches, the Cheetahs have now won four in a row - and scored more than 50 points in the past two weeks.
The win also saw the Cheetahs close the gap on the top four in play-off race - especially Griquas, who had dropped down to fourth place after still leading the competition just a fortnight ago.
It certainly didn't help Griquas, who were struggling to regroup after two disappointing losses before this game, that they lost ace flyhalf Naas Olivier just before the game and fullback Riaan Viljoen moved to No.10. Gavin Passens, mainly a wing, was moved to fullback.
No doubt the Cheetahs taught Griquas a rugby lesson.
The home side dominated territory and possession for the first 20 minutes, before the Cheetahs ran rampant, climbing one place to fifth on the log.
Trailing 3-6 in the 17th minute, Griquas wing Bjorn Basson went over on the left wing to give the hosts an 8-6 lead, but then the visitors took control.
In the 30th minute, Jongi Nokwe dotted down and six minutes later the Cheetahs wing added another try as the visitors began to run away with the game.
Shortly before the break, Cheetahs flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter added a penalty to give the visitors a 23-8 lead at the break, and they never looked back.
And any hope Griquas had of fighting back was quickly extinguished in the early stages of the second half.
Within four minutes, Nokwe had scored his third try and Potgieter added the conversion, stretching their lead to 22 points.
Just two minutes later, Cheetahs tighthead WP Nel pushed over and Potgieter again converted, giving the hosts little hope of getting back in the game.
And nine minutes later, Free State lock Nico Breedt closed off some superb team work to stretch their lead even further and Griquas were left with no hope of fighting back.
With 20 minutes on the clock, Cheetahs No.8 Frans Viljoen scored their sixth try and he wasted no time in securing his brace eight minutes later.
The home side were left to pick up the pieces, with Ruan Kitshoff securing a consolation try, but the Cheetahs easily secured their fourth win of the competition to hand Griquas their third straight loss.
The scorers:
For Griquas:
Tries: Basson, Kitshoff
Pen: Viljoen
For the Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Breedt, Nel, Nokwe 3, Viljoen 2
Cons: Potgieter 6, Strydom
Pens: Potgieter 3
Teams:
Griquas: 15 Gavin Passens, 14 Egon Seconds, 13
Wilmaure Louw, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Riaan Viljoen, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Heinrich Stride, 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Jonathan Mokuena (captain), 5 Jacques Lombaard, 4 Brendon Snyman, 3 Ruaan du Preez, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Andries Kruger, 17 Albertus Buckle, 18 Cecil Kemp, 19 Sean Plaatjies, 20 Rohan Kitshoff, 21 Jaco Bekker, 22 Lukhanyo Nontshinga.
Free State Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Danwel Demas, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Corné Uys, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Jean-Pierre Joubert, 8 Frans Viljoen, 7 Hendro Scholtz, 6 Johan Wessels, 5 David de Villiers, 4 Nico Breedt, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 Izak van der Westhuizen, 19 Lucas Floors, 20 Tertius Carse, 21 Louis Strydom, 22 Phillip Snyman.
Referee: Peter Allen (Scotland)
Assistant referee: Mtheleni Msileni, Stefan Breytenbach
TMO: Michael Cupido
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