De Waal's boot buries Cheetahs
Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:49
Big boot: Western Province flyhalf Willem de Waal
Former Free State star Willem de Waal kicked six penalties and a conversion as he helped Western Province secure a valuable 25-11 Currie Cup away win over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Defence certainly can win matches - defence and a great boot like Willem de Waal's.
The Western Province defence took off from where the Stormers left off and conceded just one try against the Free State who spent much of the latter part of the game pounding at their line. The try which Free State scored was a bit of individual brilliance, not defective defending.
Apart from their defence Western Province were much better at set pieces, especially the line-outs where Free State were expected to excel. Instead it was Western Province who took Free State ball and their own.
It was not a wonderful match at all. There was far too much kicking that was aimless or just plain erroneous. In the worst of it Western Province kicked directly into touch from just outside their 22 and then from a kick-off while Frikkie Welsh kicked a long ball dead, but then kicking is probably the worst feature of his game. Western Province's kicking got them into trouble and gave the Free State their only try.
Neither side made much use of their backs. Western Province's young centres were largely - and very competent - defenders while Free State seemed to have barging Hendro Scholtz as their main attacking weapon - not that it achieved anything.
Early in the first half Free State were way ahead on possession but then Western Province came back late in the half and led 16-8 at the break.
Louis Strydom, Free State's delicate flyhalf, was playing his 100th Currie Cup match and opened the scoring with a penalty goal when Brok Harris was penalised at a scrum. 3-0 after 12 minutes.
Western Province mauled well and when François Uys collapsed one Willem de Waal, whose goal-kicking was impeccable, made it 3-all after 16 minutes.
Then came the Free State try. Welsh kicked downfield well into Free State territory and tall Hennie Daniller counterattacked. He was alert to the shallowness of the Western Province defence, chipped over it and gathered the bouncing ball. Conrad Jantjes knocked him over but Daniller popped a pass to Tewis de Bruyn who went over in the right corner. 8-3 after 29 minutes. In the next 51 minutes Free State scored only three points.
Meyer Bosman tackled a man without the ball and De Bruyn was offside, making the score 9-8 to Western Province after 36 minutes.
Big Coenie Oosthuizen was penalised for obstruction as he did his best to get out of the way in what looked a classic case of accidental offside. De Waal kicked out for a 5-metre line-out and Western Province peeled off to attack till Adriaan Fondse crashed over under the posts.
Western Province started the second half in lively fashion and penalties - against Scholtz at a tackle and several within 10-metres after a poor kick by Bosman - brought the score to 19-8 after 45 minutes.
At this stage Juan Smith came on as substitute for Free State after a long absence on compassionate leave.
Western Province had some promising attacking when Welsh broke but ran away from his support till Daniller tackled him. The visitors battered but Daniller won a turnover. Most of the first 20 minutes of the second half belonged to Western Province but then a spate of six penalties put pressure on them. One against Vermeulen was turned into three points
Other penalties were a passport into Western Province territory and a series of attacks as again and again they battered at the line - from a 5-metre line-out, from a five-metre scrum, from a 5-metre tapped penalty. But still the defence held firm till Louis Strydom tried a kick for a try and the ball flew straight to Paul Bosch, which started a break-out which ended 10 metres from the Free State line.
Western Province were there when Juan Smith was penalised at a tackle and, inevitably, De Waal goaled.
Man of the Match: One is tempted to make Henry Daniller the Man of the Match for his attacking flair but he faded out in the second half. Still the try he made was exquisite. Our Man of the Match is cool, calm and effective Willem de Waal who was worth 20 points and many acres to his team.
The scorers:
For the Free State Cheetahs:
Try: De Bruyn
Pens: Strydom 2
For Western Province:
Try: Fondse
Con: De Waal
Pens: De Waal 6
The teams:
Free State Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Philip Snyman, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Louis Strydom, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Francois Uys, 6 Hendro Scholtz
(captain), 5 Waltie Vermeulen, 4 Izak van der Westhuizen, 3 WP Nel, 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 PW van Vuuren, 17 Kobus Calldo, 18 Juan Smith, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Tertius Carse, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 Corné Uys.
Western Province: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Fabian Juries, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Frikkie Welsh, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Rynardt Elstadt, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Anton van Zyl (captain), 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 JD Moller, 18 JC Kritzinger, 19 Martin Muller, 20 Pieter Myburgh, 21 Conrad Hoffmann, 22 Lionel Cronjé.
Referee: Marius Jonker
Assistant referees: Tiaan Jonker, Christi du Preez
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
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