Cheetahs hold on for sweet victory
Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:55
Hard to stop: Duanne Vermeulen on the charge
The Cheetahs finally recorded their first victory of the 2008 Super 14 season in front of their home fans in Bloemfontein, after enduring a strong second-half comeback from the Reds to claim a 29-14 win.
It had to happen. The Cheetahs had to win at last after their close defeats, and this one they deserved. Most teams take a dip during the match, and the Cheetahs did it one stage during the second half when their old malaise of cracked tackling attacked them again, but then they rallied and started far more strongly than the Reds.
They also started much more strongly than the Reds - much, much. In the first quarter of the match they led 17-0.
Afterwards the disappointed Reds' captain said that the Cheetahs had "outenthused" his side who seemed to believe on the back of recent improvement that all they had to do was pitch up in Bloemfontein to wallop the winless Cheetahs.
The Cheetahs won all right and scored a thrilling bonus-point try after the final siren had sounded.
The Cheetahs won the battle for the tackle ball. They won the battle for the line-outs, taking no fewer than seven of the Reds' throws. And they won the scrums. They won the match.
The only down for the Cheetahs, apart from that weak patch in the second half, was their discipline. They lost the tackle count 7-2 and had CJ van der Linde sent to the sin bin. His departure was really silly. In the first half the referee had warned him for driving into the tackle with a leading shoulder and told him that he would go to the sin bin if he did it again. He did it again and went off shaking his head in puzzlement. He must have a really poor memory for he did the same - undetected - when he came back on just before the end.
Cheetahs' coach Naka Drotské praised his men for their improved defensive effort and even managed a smile - a brief one.
The Reds had their moments and it was a match of much movement but their hands let them down at crucial moments, their support at telling times was lacking and the tackle area was poor.
They also had the misfortune to lose two stars early in the match, both with leg injuries - Chris Latham and, with a recurrence of the calf injury which kept him out last week, Sam Cordingley.
The Cheetahs attacked first and a clever diagonal kick by Meyer Bosman was collected on the retreat by Clinton Schifcofske who was forced back into his in-goal to concede a five-metre scrum. Form the scrum Bosman cut back and the Cheetahs won quick ball which Tewis de Bruyn handed to Rory Duncan who ploughed through John Roe and Leroy Houston to score. Jacques-Louis Potgieter converted. 7-0 after 4 minutes.
A penalty and two free kicks set the Reds on the attack but Bosman easily won a turn-over at a tackle and Hennie Daniller cleared a long way downfield.
Latham kicked downfield but De Bruyn was back and threw a long pass to No.8 Duanne Vermeulen who started running down the left from the 22. He crabbed across field to beat two Reds and gave to JW Jonker on the 10-metre line. The centre cracked on the pace and on the Reds;' 10-metre line gave to Bosman who was cutting back on the angle and the big inside centre racked for the line, going over in Latham's tackle. Latham was quick to claim that a try had not been scored but the television match official confirmed it. Potgieter converted. 14-0 after 9 minutes.
David Croft charged down a kick by Potgieter but the ball shot into the Cheetahs' in-goal where Potgieter grounded it. In the match he would have another two kicks charged down.
Hendro Scholtz had a great run down the right and De Bruyn was at the Reds' line but the Cheetahs lost the ball. The Reds won the scrum and cleared to Daniller who counterattacked and Potgieter kicked a soaring drop. 17-0 after 21 minutes.
The Reds attacked soon after with Latham and Stephen Moore prominent but they lost the ball. They lost more than the ball for Latham was hurt and went off, soon to be followed by Cordingley. To replace Latham the Reds brought on Charlie Fetoai. He went to the right wing with Schifcofske moving to fullback, the position he prefers.
The Reds had a five-metre line-out and then a five-metre free kick and Fetoai was close to the line, but the defence held.
Half-time came with the Cheetahs leading 17-0.
They increased their lead early in the second half.
From a line-out on their right they went wide to the left and then came back to the right where Bosman, with a brilliant pass, put Heinrich Brüssow through a tiny gap. Brüssow gave to Vermeulen who beat Van Humphries and Moore to score far out. Potgieter converted. 24-0 after 45 minutes.
The nil was remarkable for a side with such leaky defence.
It was then that the Cheetah dip set in. The Reds attacked through -phases until they were free-kicked for holding on. They came back again with many phases till, from a scrum, they went left and, as easily as you like, Brando Va'aulu beat two defenders to score. Schifcofske converted. 24-7 after 54 minutes.
In this period the Cheetahs saw precious little of the ball. Their attacking attitude had slumped.
Then the Cheetahs started to come back into the game and were well on the attack after many phases when Van der Linde was sent to the sin bin.
While he was absent, the Reds attacked and from a free kick they went right where Va'aulu cut inside Daniller to score in the corner. Schifcofske converted from touch, 24-14 with 13 minutes to play.
They looked about to score again when Va'aulu broke down the midfield but then Van der Linde returned and the Cheetahs took over the rest of the game. Van der Linde was close and then Jonker was over but the pass was ruled forward. The Cheetahs destroyed the subsequent scrum and Falie Oelschig was close. They were close again when Oelschig chipped but anxious hands could not get the ball with the goal-line smiling at them. Again they destroyed a Reds scrum but this time Van der Linde was penalised for illegal scrummaging.
The Reds had one last go as Morgan Turinui burst down the middle and Ben Lucas darted ahead but Bosman grabbed him sand James Horwill knocked on. Jonker cleared down his left for a line-out just inside the Cheetahs' half, Reds' throw-in with 30 seconds to play. Yet again the Cheetahs stole it and went right. Bosman slipped through a grubber. Falling back Peter Hynes could not control it and there were four Cheetahs in attendance with only Schifcofske close by. Jonker footed on, collected the bounce at the 22 and raced for the corner. Bonus point. 29-14. Match over.
Man of the Match: Whew, this is hard! There were two outstanding candidates - Meyer Bosman on defence and attack and our eventual choice Duanne Vermeulen who tackled, ran, won line-outs and was magnificent.
Moment of the Match: Meyer Bosman's grubber and JW Jonker's try.
Villain of the Match: CJ van der Linde for poor hearing and a bad memory.
Scorers:
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Duncan, Bosman, Vermeulen, Jonker
Cons: Potgieter 3
DG: Potgieter
For the Reds:
Tries: Va'aulu 2
Cons: Schifcofske 2
Yellow card: CJ van der Linde (Cheetahs, 62 - repeated offence, illegal tackle)
Teams:
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Duanne Vermeulen, 7 Hendro Scholtz, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Rory Duncan (captain), 3 CJ van der Linde, 2
Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Bees Roux, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Juan Smith, 20 Falie Oelschig, 21 Conrad Barnard, 22 Hendrik Meyer.
Reds: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Clinton Schifcofske, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Peter Hynes, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Sam Cordingley (captain), 8 Leroy Houston, 7 David Croft, 6 John Roe, 5 James Horwill, 4 Van Humphries, 3 Dayna Edwards, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements: 16 Sean Hardman, 17 Ben Coutts, 18 Ed O'Donoghue, 19 Poutasi Luafutu, 20 Ben Lucas, 21 Charlie Fetoai, 22 Brando Va'aulu.
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Deon van Blommestein (South Africa)
Television match official: Michael Cupido (South Africa)
Assessor: Banks Yantolo (South Africa)
