The Cheetahs continued their excellent form on Saturday night, outpointing the RaboDirect Rebels 41-21 in Bloemfontein. The home side’s clinical finishing proved the difference in what, for the most part, was an even contest. By the final reckoning the Free State side’s five tries had earned a bonus point win; a franchise-record fourth in succession. The late sending off of Ryno Benjamin failed to take the gloss off a deserved victory in front of a raucous home support.
The Rebels played their part throughout in an entertaining game, but were punished for costly mistakes as the club’s first South African tour ended without a win. James Hilgendorf, a late replacement for Julian Huxley, kept the Rebels moving, with his side’s forwards consistently crossing the gain line. Luke Jones, in particular, can take much away from a promising debut.
Both sides struggled with the underfoot conditions in the Free State Stadium, with the turf cutting up badly, preventing either side from executing sharp changes of direction.
The first half followed a frustratingly familiar pattern for the Rebels, who once again dominated the ball but turned it over too frequently to convert possession into points. The in-form Cheetahs capitalised on almost every opportunity they were handed and led by three tries to one at the break.
Despite the Rebels starting the better of the two sides, the Cheetahs scrum had plenty of early success and it was this platform that created the game’s first score. The home side’s second consecutive scrum win against the feed gave them a put-in of their own and from a much more secure base scrumhalf Sarel Pretorious sniped off the back and as he burst for the line, his inside centre, Corne Uys, was on hand to run over unopposed.
Again the Rebels controlled play for most of the next phase of the game but despite an impressive ball-carrying display from the forwards they failed to carve out any clear opportunities. Any half-breaks were curtailed by the poor conditions underfoot leading to inopportune slips and pressure was often released with innocuous turnovers.
After 20 minutes the Rebels were made to pay for one such disappointing turnover. A long downfield kick put Luke Rooney under pressure on the edge of his own 22 but Ryno Benjamin chased the kick at speed and charged down his attempted clearance. The ball bounced kindly for the South African who used his momentum to sidestep the covering defender and launch himself across the line.
Characteristically, the Rebels refused to let these early setbacks affect their game and this positive attitude paid dividends on 26 minutes as a training ground set-piece unlocked the home defence.
Hugh Pyle gathered a lineout 20-metres from the Cheetahs line and he quickly fed Jarrod Saffy while all supporting forwards shaped for a driving maul. However, instead of the ball being enclosed and shunted forward, the Rebels’ platform separated, creating a channel for Ged Robinson to smash through and reduce the deficit. Goal kicker for the night, Richard Kingi, converted from just right of the posts.
The Rebels looked the most likely to add the next points to the scoreboard but another poor turnover cost them dearly.
After 36 minutes the Cheetahs intercepted a risky midfield pass and took play deep into attacking territory. They calmly recycled the ball through a series of phases, allowing captain, Adriaan Strauss, the space to become the second try-scoring hooker for the night.
Sias Ebersohn converted all three Cheetahs tries and the prolific five-eighth began the second half with two sweetly struck penalties to extend his side’s lead. The second, from inside his own half, came after Richard Kingi had missed the Rebels’ first three-point attempt.
Better was to come from Kingi though, as the Rebels fullback’s next kick sailed between the posts, to maximise the reward for Mark Gerrard’s 29th Super Rugby try. A patient build up was capitalised upon by a bulldozing Cooper Vuna run and after he had drawn defenders into the contest, Mark Gerrard straightened up to take advantage of the overlap and finish safely.
After a slow start to the second half, that 57th-minute try sparked the game back into life.
Immediately after the restart Ebersohn missed his first shot for goal but that was quickly forgotten when Corne Uys scored his second try of the night, in quite extraordinary fashion.
A Sias Ebersohn chip through was crumbed by Ryno Benjamin and in a scintillating movement he dived forward, flicked the ball behind him into the hands of Uys who himself dived for the corner and successfully grounded the ball despite almost all his body being outside the field of play – in mid air. The spectacular try received an equally eye-catching conversion as Ebersohn’s wicked low slice form the touchline just dipped over at the last moment.
This was the signal for the Cheetahs to turn the screw and their dominance was rewarded with captain Strauss’ second try, after 68 minutes.
The game soured late on as ill-discipline meant the home side finished with just 13 men and the Rebels 14. First, on 75-minutes, Ryno Benjamin was sent off for head butting Stirling Mortlock, with the Rebels captain subsequently sin-binned for retaliating. Then, in the closing seconds, the Rebels were awarded a penalty try as an early Riaan Viljoen tackle halted a promising breakaway. The fullback’s yellow card barely registered however, as the siren had already sounded before he had chance to leave the field.
The Rebels now return to Australia for a well-earned bye before returning to AAMI Park to take on the Stormers in round sixteen.
Rebels
1. Greg Somerville, 2. Ged Robinson, 3. Laurie Weeks, 4. Alister Campbell 5. Hugh Pyle, 6. Luke Jones, 7. Jarrod Saffy, 8. Tim Davidson (vc), 9. Nick Phipps, 10. James Hilgendorf, 11. Luke Rooney, 12. Stirling Mortlock (c), 13. Mark Gerrard, 14. Cooper Vuna, 15. Richard Kingi
Reserves: 16. Heath Tessmann, 17. Rodney Blake, 18. Kevin O’Neill, 19. Michael Lipman, 20. Lachlan Mitchell, 21. Afusipa Taumoepeau 22. Peter Betham
Head Coach: Rod Macqueen
Cheetahs
1. Coenie Oosthuizen, 2. Adriaan Strauss (C) 3. W.P. Nel, 4. Francois Uys, 5. Wilhelm Steenkamp, 6. Kabamba Floors, 7. Ashley Johnson, 8. Davon Raubenheimer, 9. Sarel Pretorius, 10. Sias Ebersohn, 11. Ryno Benjamin, 12. Corne Uys, 13. Robert Ebersohn (vc) 14. Riaan Smit, 15. Riaan Viljoen
Reserves: 16. Ryno Barnes, 17. Lourens Adriaanse, 18. Martin Muller, 19. Johan Wessels, 20. Tewis De Bruyn, 21. Naas Olivier, 22. Hennie Daniller
Head Coach: Naka Drotske
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