Cheetahs thrash hapless Leopards
Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:04
Rampaging Cheetahs: Adriaan Strauss leads the charge. (c) Gallo
The Free State Cheetahs trounced a hapless Leopards side 57-0 in their Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Going into this game, the Cheetahs found had won just one of their last three fixtures - after losing to the Sharks and the Lions - and desperately needed a bonus-point win to get their campaign back on track.
Although not pretty at times, there were signs that the Cheetahs can be dangerous - if, however, they hold on to possession.
The Cheetahs, who rested a few first-choice players for the fixture, played with little structure in the first half and often struggled to get over the advantage line.
The Leopards had the upperhand early on, even outscrumming the home side but they missed too many tackles in the last 50 minutes of the fixture, conceding seven tries in the period.
The first try came when Cheetahs prop Coenie Oosthuizen had a typical bulldozing run, but was stopped a metre short before captain Adriaan Strauss (hooker) dived over.
Oosthuizen scored a similar try to Strauss, which inside centre Meyer Bosman converted. He took over the kicking duties from youngster Sias Ebersohn, who missed his first two kicks at goal.
The Leopards, who opted not to kick for goal at penalty-time - opting to kick for touch instead, were very nearly rewarded with a try, but wing Dumisani Matyeshana was called back (after scoring in the corner) due to a forward pass earlier in the move.
In fact, the first 40 minutes will probably best remembered for the huge amount of forward passes in the half.
Six minutes before the break there was a special moment when the Ebersohn twins, Sias and Robert, combined nicely to score the third try of the night. Sias broke through a half-gap before off-loading to his brother, who ran a good angle on his way to scoring.
Just two minutes later, the Cheetahs suddenly started to find their rhythm.
Philip van der Walt (flank) and Nokwe were prominent in the build-up. From a quickly recycled ball the Cheetahs had too many players on the outside and lock Waltie Vermeulen unselfishly handed flanker Hendro Scholtz an easy run-in for the bonus-point try.
Two Cheetah tries within six minutes into the second half ended the match as a contest.
The scorers:
For the Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Strauss, Van der Walt, Oosthuizen, Uys, Scholtz, Snyman 2, R Ebersohn, Nel
Cons: Bosman 6
Yellow card(s): Riaan Swanepoel (Leopards, 36th minute), Deon Scholtz (Leopards, 77th minute).
The teams:
Free State Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Philip Snyman, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Philip van der Walt, 6 Hendro Scholtz, 5 Waltie Vermeulen, 4 Francois Uys, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2
Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Skipper Badenhorst, 17 WP Nel, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Tertius Carse, 21 Louis Strydom, 22 Riaan Smit.
Leopards: 15 Jan van Zyl, 14 Deon Scholtz, 13 Jovan Bowles, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Dumisani Matyeshana, 10 Niell Jacobs, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Riaan Swanepoel, 7 Wilhelm Koch (captain), 6 Christo van Niekerk, 5 Edrich Linde, 4 Brad Mockford, 3 Barend van der Walt, 2 Gavin Williamson, 1 Bennie Uys.
Replacements: 16 Marthinus van der Westhuizen, 17 Johan Coetzee, 18 Anthonie Gronum, 19 Reginald Kember, 20 Theo van Wyk, 21 Clayton Durand, 22 Mohammed Samaai.
Referee: Jason Jaftha
Assistant referees: Ben Crouse, Marc van Zyl
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