The Cats fought valiantly, but in the end their huge effort on the night failed to prevent South Africa’s fourth Vodacom Super 12 defeat of the weekend as they were beaten 35-28 by the Blues at Ellis Park on Saturday evening.
The score was 13-13 at half-time and once again the Cats produced a performance of two halves — only two late consolation tries made the scoreline respectable.
Competitive and determined in the first stanza, the second half saw them concede 22 points, before wings Anton Pitout and Jorrie Muller dotted down in the final three minutes.
The Blues scored four tries to the three from the home team, but had to work hard for the win. And the Cats never gave up throughout the 80 minutes, while a number of players can justifiably be proud of their individual performances.
The Cats came out firing from the first whistle, clearly determined to restore some of South Africa’s lost pride after a weekend of woefully inept performances.
Following defeats to the Stormers (29-14 to the Chiefs), Bulls (40-21 against the Crusaders) and the Sharks (downed 6-5 by the Reds), it fell to the Cats to pull the fat from the fire and save South Africa’s blushes in Super 12 round 10.
And they got off to a great start when Andre Pretorius kicked a third-minute penalty, but he missed a long-range effort five minutes later to allow Blues flyhalf Luke McAlister to level matters after 12 minutes.
But the home team were full of enterprise early on and after a couple of failed attacking forays, Juan Smith, Jacque Fourie and hooker Hanyani Shimange combined to put lock Gerrie Britz away for the first try of the match.
The confidence gained from the superb second-half performance against the Crusaders last week was evident as the backs and forwards combined well. And there were none of the elementary mistakes that have plagued the Cats virtually all season in the first half.
The pack, with number eight Smith prominent in the loose, hussled and bustled the Blues to give the Cats a deserved 13-6 lead at the half-hour mark.
They even defended well when it was needed — something that has not been a trademark this year — against the powerful Blues backline. Fullback Conrad Jantjes provided booming touchfinders to relieve the pressure whenever it was required, while scrumhalf Enrico Januarie revelled in the space afforded him by opposite number Billy Fulton.
However, when push really came to shove, the defence crumbled to allow Blues centre Sam Tuitupou in for a converted try just before the break, to level the score again at 13-all. It was sustained pressure from the visiting team that eventually punched a hole through the defence close to the poles.
Before the half-time whistle sounded, though, Britz had time to go on another storming run, only to be called back for an infringement at the previous ruck when a try seemed certain.
And that miss was further compounded when the Blues scored a fine try through wing Doug Howlett — after good work by centre Ben Atiga — shortly after the restart.
When McAlister kicked his third penalty on 47 minutes, the Blues led 21-13 and it seemed as if the Cats would flatter only to deceive once again.
Although Pretorius kicked a 25m penalty to close the gap, it was only momentarily as Howlett scampered over for his second five-pointer four minutes later to give the visitors a comfortable 12-point cushion with a little more than 20 minutes remaining.
The composure that they eschewed in the opening 40 minutes was suddenly lost as the Blues managed to secure turnover ball and were now quicker to the breakdown than their flustered opponents.
Unsurprisingly they scored their fourth try in the 64th minute through lock Angus MacDonald. To their credit, the Cats fought to the bitter end, defending as if their lives depended on it and securing those late tries, but ultimately it was not enough to deny the Blues victory, and South Africa’s fourth defeat of an utterly miserable weekend. — Sapa