The Free State Cheetahs had few problems beating the Valke by 45-11 at the Bosman Stadium in Brakpan on Friday night.
The visitors patiently waited for the home side to make mistakes, on which they then pounced.
Most of the visitors’ six tries were against the run of play, with the Valke failing to protect their own ball. This resulted in them not being able to set up phases. They were also below par in the line-out as Cheetahs lock Corniel van Zyl stole many of the Valke’s line-out balls.
The Cheetahs gave the ball plenty of air and the outside backs stretched the Valke defence. With Willem de Waal’s distribution on song it was only time before the likes of Philip Burger showed their class.
Burger joined the back line with great determination and his ball skills came to the fore when he created space for Eddie Fredericks and Gavin Passens to take advantage of.
Fredericks missed out on a hat-trick last weekend against Boland and repeated this effort as he crossed the try line twice.
The Valke loose forwards were overshadowed by their counterparts as the Cheetahs dominated the fight for the loose ball.
Nippy Valke scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius got minimal protection from his forwards and was under constant pressure for most of the first half, which limited the fluidity of the Valke back line.
Even though Pretorius was a constant threat with ball in hand, his service was not always the best and his substitution in the second half was long overdue.
Valke winger Riaan Viljoen improved dramatically from his poor showing against the Bulls as he created opportunities every time he had the ball in hand.
The Valke, though, can take much from their performances in the past two weeks as they have held their own against the joint Currie Cup champions — the Bulls and Cheetahs.
The Cheetahs will host the Wildeklawer Griquas next weekend, and the Valke take on Boland at Bosman Stadium next week. — Sapa