Hurricanes blow Cheetahs away
Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:01
The Hurricanes maintained their play-off hopes with a comprehensive 38-10 win over a very ordinary Cheetahs team in their Super 14 match in Kimberley on Saturday.
The six-tries-to-one win saw the Hurricanes move up to fifth place on the standings after what has been a very successful South African tour in which they hammered both the defending champion Bulls and now Cheetahs.
Credit must go to a Hurricanes outfit that showed how dangerous they can be on the counter, as they fed off repeated Cheetah errors in a game in which the standards were mostly ordinary.
Despite struggling in the scrums, one of the few highlights for the home team, the Hurricanes showed how important it is to use your opportunities.
The Cheetahs at times dominated possession and territory, but it says a lot about the Hurricanes' defensive effort that they let in only one try.
Not that the Cheetahs did anything out of the ordinary on attack, mostly just shifting the ball along the line - with no real straightening or dummy runners to make the drifting defence think twice.
It was also another game where the shocking standard of refereeing was highlighted.
Australian Ian Smith may argue that he had no material affect on the outcome of the game - which some other match officials did - but the combination of Smith and TMO Johann Meuwesen (South Africa) contrived to rob the Cheetahs of a certain try (see our moment of the match) and possibly alter the course of the game.
But it remains a blight on the game that match officials, who make a living out of the game and call themselves 'professionals', are allowed to get away with the rubbish they dish up week after week.
The Cheetahs got off to a flying start, controlling the early ball and then winning a penalty as the Hurricanes went offside. Conrad Barnard, in his first start in a while, made no mistake and the Cheetahs had a 3-0 lead after just two minutes.
The Hurricanes then enjoyed a period of controlling the possession, but they found the Cheetahs defence a well-organised unit as the game was played mostly near the halfway line.
It was 15 minutes before the next scoring opportunity came - a penalty to the Cheetahs as the Hurricanes went offside at a scrum. But Barnard's attempted shot at goal hit the upright and it stayed 3-all.
The Hurricanes scored next - lock Jason Eaton scrambling over from a ruck that was set up after a Cheetahs line-out on their own 22 went horribly wrong. Weepu added the conversion for a 7-3 lead after 19 minutes.
It went horribly wrong again for the Cheetahs two minutes later, when Rodney So'oialo intercepted an inside pass as the Cheetahs looked to attack. The Hurricanes captain sprinted 50 metres for an easy score and the conversion made it 14-3 to the visitors.
However, the Cheetahs regained their composure very quickly and a few minutes later they saw wing Jongi Nokwe jog over and touch down after some neat passing from a free-kick. Barnard's conversion narrowed the gap to 10-14.
The Cheetahs were again made to pay for a dreadful error, some shocking decision making it must be said, as Jeremy Thrush collected an attempted chip-kick by prop CJ van der Linde and offloaded to Ma'a Nonu for an easy score. Weepu had no problem in making it 21-10 with only about four minutes left in the first half.
And it again went from bad to worse as Falie Oelschig - who was having a shocking first half and one of the chief culprits in a high error count - simply pushed a Hurricane player without the ball. However, Weepu's shot at goal drifted wide and the Cheetahs were just 11 points (10-21) down at the break.
The Hurricanes continued to feed of the Cheetahs' errors after the break, which saw the home team being pinned inside their own half in a game of catch-up rugby.
Oelschig was also replaced early in the half as a clear indication that coach Naka Drotské had enough of the sloppy play that was costing his team.
It didn't seem to change the flow of the match, as some more sloppy play by the Cheetahs saw Zac Guilford slip over for the bonus-point try in the 54th minute - with Weepu's conversion attempt drifting wide.
But at 26-10 the game was slipping away from a very ordinary-looking home team.
The Cheetahs now made a desperate attempt to get back into the game, but some great defence by the Hurricanes - and in particular Piri Weepu, who kicked the ball out of Hendro Scholtz's outstretched hand - saved a certain try.
And moments later another chance went begging as the Cheetahs were robbed when they failed to control the ball just five metres from the Hurricanes line.
The Hurricanes came close to making the Cheetahs pay for another of those silly errors, but Scott Waldrom lost the ball in the process of trying to place it over the line.
However, with eight minutes left on the clock Cory Jane put the matter beyond doubt with a try that came from a great little kick by Weepu, who failed with the conversion - but at 31-10 and the Cheetahs scoreless in the second half there was no doubt who deserved the win.
Waldrom also got his award after the earlier close call, when he drove over from close in with just two minutes left on the clock. Willie Ripia, who took over the goal-kicking added the conversion for a 38-10 lead - which is how it stayed till the end.
Man of the match: Hurricanes captain Rodney So'oialo was strong on defence and left his stud marks all over the park. However, our award goes to Hurricanes scrumhalf Piri Weepu, who was great in the reading of the game and put in some really awesome defence - especially that try-saving foot-effort midway through the second half.
Moment of the match: There were six really good tries by the Hurricanes and a half-decent effort from the Cheetahs, and they all deserve some recognition. However, we are going for Piri Weepu's 'try-saving' foot-defence midway through the second half - at a time when the Cheetahs looked like they might sneak back into the game. We originally thought this was a great save, but thanks to Leonard Kaplan from Cape Town, who pointed out to us that according to Law 22.4 (f) this was indeed another instance where the match officials got it horribly wrong and robbed the South African team of a certain try! Weepu's kick at the ball was illegal - which means both referee Ian Smith (Australia) and the TMO Johann Meuwesen (South Africa) got it wrong in law! So this remains our moment of the match, as it proves that match officials' mistakes cost teams dearly!
Villain of the match: Nothing untoward from the players. We did consider referee Ian Smith, but he was saved by the fact that there were far more shocking efforts from other match officials this weekend and there is no award.
Scoring:
For the Cheetahs:
Try: Nokwe
Con: Barnard
Pen: Barnard
For the Hurricanes:
Tries: Eaton, So'oialo, Nonu, Guilford, Jane, Waldrom
Cons: Weepu 3, Ripia
Teams:
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 15 Eddie Fredericks, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Falie Oelschig, 8 Duanne Vermeulen , 7 Juan Smith (captain), 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Rory Duncan, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Bees Roux, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Hendro Scholtz, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Bevin Fortuin, 22 Hendrik Meyer.
Hurricanes: 15 Cory Jane, 14 Hosea
Gear, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Willie Ripia, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So'oialo (captain), 7 Scott Waldrom, 6 Chris Masoe, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Jeremy Thrush, 3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Neemia Tialata.
Replacements: 16 Hikawera Elliot, 17 Jacob Ellison, 18 Bernie Upton, 19 Craig Clarke, 20 Brett Goodin, 21 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 22 Tamati Ellison.
Referee: Ian Smith (Australia)
Touch judges: Paul Marks (Australia), Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Television match official: Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)
Assessor: Arrie Schoonwinkel (South Africa), Ian Scotney (Performance Auditor) (Australia)
