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Frisby double ease Reds past Cheetahs

It was not a great match – far too many handling errors, for one thing. There were 24 penalties (12 each), three yellow cards and 28 line-outs, 19 in the second half. The Cheetahs scrumming was woeful. There were no problems with the six Reds' scrums but of the Cheetahs' seven scrums there were four resets, four collapses, four penalties and two tightheads, one of which gave the Reds a simple try.

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In the first half the Cheetahs actually had the better of possession and territory and the half ended 10-all. But they were outplayed in the second half and it did not help their cause when a try was disallowed for foul play, depriving them of the chance of a bonus point.

For the home side it meant their second win of the season, but then they beat the Highlanders in Brisbane when the Super Rugby titleholders were riding the crest of a wave.

Clayton Blommetjies kicked off for the Cheetahs and they ran the ball wide over and over, showing promising intent. When Anthony Fainga'a went offside, Fred Zeilinga, who kicked well all match, goaled. 3-0 after 2 minutes, but two minutes later Jake McIntyre levelled the scores at a tackle infringement.

Hendrik Tui had an eager break and then Conrad Hunt saved when the Cheetahs attacked. But the Reds did not handle well and the Cheetahs got the first try after Fainga'a was sent to the sin bin for an armless tackle on Michael van der Spuy who did not have the ball.

When Samu Kerevi lost the ball, the Cheetahs got the ball to Sergeal Petersen on an overlap. He raced ahead and when a tackle threatened he passed inside to  a covering Red, which gave the Cheetahs  a five-metre line-out. They, unsurprisingly, mauled and Usair Cassiem was just able to stretch and get the ball to the line. Zeilinga converted and the Cheetahs led 10-3 after 35 minutes.

Two penalties gave the Reds a five-metre line-out, which they mauled but conceded a scrum to the Cheetahs five metres from the visitors' line. The Reds won their second tighthead of the half as the siren sounded for half-time and No.8 Curtis Browning picked up and drove through Henco Venter to score. 10-10.Frisby double ease Reds past Cheetahs

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There was a classic two-on-two situation with Kerevi in possession. He shaped to go outwards, pulled Petersen in and gave Eto Nabuli an overlap. The big wing raced ahead and gave inside to Kerevi who, as Petersen tackled him, got a pass away to Nick Frisby and the perky scrumhalf scored. 17-10 to the Reds after 46 minutes.

From the kick-off Frisby broke at speed and Cassiem was penalised at a tackle. 20-10 after 51 minutes.

The Cheetahs had a chance with an attacking line-out but were freekicked for not letting the catcher down immediately.

From a scrum on their right, the Reds went left and Kerevi broke. Nabuli and James Slipper carried it on and got close to the Cheetahs' line where Frisby threw a dummy which Oupa Mahoje bought. The scrumhalf nipped inside of him and scored behind the posts. 27-10 after 62 minutes.

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In this action Kerevi hurt a wrist and went off, clearly distraught.

Liam Gill became the second recipient of a yellow card for a tackle infringement. The Cheetahs had a five-metres line-out from the infringement. Mahoje won the line-out and they went wide left where Raymond Rhule had some space and flashed over for the try in the left corner. Zeilinga converted from touch. 27-17 with 10 minutes to play.

With four minutes to play McIntyre kicked a scrum penalty but then the Cheetahs attacked. A penalty gave them a five-metre line-out which they mauled and then went wide left where Nico Lee kicked a grubber into in-goal where Blommetjies dived on the ball. But the TMO was able to reveal to all present that after Rob Simmonds had held Willie Brits down from getting into the attack, Brits had pushed hit him in freeing himself. For this Brits was penalised and sent to the sin bin. The try was cancelled and so was the Cheetahs'; chance to get a losing bonus point.

Man of the Match: Lively, enthusiastic Nick Frisby for two tries and lot besides.

The scorers:

For the Reds:

Tries: Browning, Frisby 2

Cons: McIntyre 3

Pens: McIntyre 3

For the Cheetahs:

Tries: Cassiem, Rhule

Cons: Zeilinga  2

Pen: Zeilinga

Yellow card: Anthony Fainga'a (Reds, 28 – foul play, late shoulder charge), Liam Gill (Reds, 69 – cynical; play, deliberately killing the ball), Willie Britz (Cheetahs, 78 – foul play, striking)

Teams:

Reds: 15 Karmichael Hunt, 14 Junior Laloifi, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Anthony Fainga'a, 11 Eto Nabuli, 10 Jake McIntyre, 9 Nick Frisby, 8 Curtis Browning, 7 Liam Gill, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Ben Matwijow, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Andrew Ready, 1 James Slipper (captain).

Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Sef Fa'agase, 18 Sam Talakai, 19 Cadeyrn Neville, 20 Michael Gunn, 21 James Tuttle, 22 Duncan Paia'aua, 23 Ayumu Goromaru.

Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Nico Lee, 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Lodewyk de Jager (captain), 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Nicolaas van Dyk, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Charles Marais.

Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Luan de Bruin, 18 Johan Coetzee, 19 Francois Uys, 20 Teboho Mohoje, 21 Willie Britz, 22 Niel Marais, 23 Tian Meyer.

Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand)

Assistant referees: Will Houston (Australia), Nic Berry (Australia)

TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)

Frisby double ease Reds past Cheetahs

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