Cheetahs pickpocket Sharks in Bloem
The Free State Cheetahs managed to fight their way to a 34-34 draw with the Sharks to advance to the Currie Cup semifinal against the Golden Lions next weekend.
The Cheetahs were 20-34 down with eight minutes to play before they decided to show the knock-out aspirations.
The Sharks had the first chance of the match when Joe Pietersen kicked a long range penalty in the first minute.
Moments later Sias Eberson got a similar kick 40 meters out, but his kick shaved past the upright, and the score remained 0-3.
Francios Venter made a great run from inside his own half and after some nice interplay with Shaun Venter – the ball was released to Ryno Benjamin who stepped inside to score the try.
Eberson made no mistake with the conversion this time.
The Sharks hit back immediately as hooker Franco Marais bumped off two tackles to release flank Etienne Oosthuizen who went over for the try, but Pietersen failed to add the extras.
The Sharks led the Cheetahs 8-7 after 23 minutes.
Eberson missed his third kick of the day as he failed to convert a very kickable penalty.
Shaun Venter then sparked some life into the Cheetahs as he broke down the line to release Benjamin who was tackle 5 meters from the Sharks try line.
The Cheetahs spread the ball wide and Venter once again ofloaded, this time to Johannes Prinsloo, and he went over for the try.
Eberson made no mistake with the conversion as the Cheetahs moved into a 14-8 lead, but the flyhalf's whoeful kicking display continued as he missed yet another penalty a few minutes later.
The Sharks went on to regain the lead as Cobus Reinach sprinted 50 meters to go over for the second Sharks try.
Pietersen failed to slot over the conversion.
Eberson got another penalty on the stroke of halftime and he managed to add the three points as the Cheetahs led 17-13 at the break.
Two minutes into the second half the Sharks took a 18-17 lead as Pietersen split the Cheetahs defence before he offloaded to Paul Jordaan who score the try in the corner.
The terrible kicking continued as Pietersen failed with his third consecutive conversion attempt.
The Cheetahs managed to slot another penalty to move into a 20-18 lead as Eberson seemed to sorted out his kicking problems, but in the 56th minute he missed yet another kickable penalty.
Pietersen then kicked a 35 meter penalty to put the Sharks back into the lead at 21-20 with 22 minutes left to play.
The Sharks got another penalty right in front of the posts.
Pietersen slotted the conversion for a 24- 20 lead, while Cheetahs prop Luan de Bruin was yellow carded.
The Sharks increased the tempo of their play and Garth April managed to go over for the bonus point try, which Pietersen easily converted.
Pietersen then added another three points as he slotted another penalty over and the Sharks raced into a 34-20 lead.
They were seemingly on their way to a semifinal clash with the Lions at Ellis Park, but the Cheetahs had other ideas.
They looked to have scored a try under the post but were called back for a Sharks scrum after Benjamin was judged to have passed the ball forward.
The Cheetahs then scored a try from inside their own 22 as Benjamin rounded off a beautiful backline move and Eberson added the extras to put them within seven points of the Sharks at 27-34, with five minutes left to play.
The Cheetahs set up a rolling maul five meters from the tryline and they scored through Gerhard Olivier.
Substitute Neil Marais kicked the ball over as the Cheetahs drew level at 34-34.
The Cheetahs advanced to the semifinals by two log points.
Man of the Match: Shaun Venter played an inspiring game as he was involved in most of the Cheetahs attacking.
Scorers:
For Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Benjamin 2, Prinsloo, Olivier
Cons: Eberson 3, Marais
Pens: Eberson 2
For Sharks:
Tries: Oosthuizen, Reinach, Jordaan, April
Con:Pietersen
Pens:Pietersen 4
Teams:
Free State Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ryno Benjamin, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Johannes Prinsloo, 5 Francois Uys (captain), 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Burrie Gildenhuys Uys.
Replacements: 16 Neil Rautenbach, 17 Teunis Nieuwoudt, 18 Reniel Hugo, 19 Freddy Ngoza, 20 Gerhard Olivier, 21 Ruan van Rensburg, 22 Niel Marais, 23 AJ Coertzen, 24 Willem Serfontein.
Sharks: 15 Garth April, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Sibusiso Sithole, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Etienne Oosthuizen, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Marco Wentzel (captain), 4 Dave McDuling, 3 Gerhard Engelbrecht, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Mzamo Majola, 18 Christiaan de Bruin, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Heimar Williams, 22 Waylon Murray.
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
Assistant referees: Jaco van Heerden, Rico van der Hoven
TMO: JJ Wagner
