Stephen Donald and Sitiveni Sivivatu scored tries two minutes apart in the opening five minutes on Friday as the Waikato Chiefs held on for a 33-32 Super 14 rugby win over South Africa’s Cheetahs.
The win, the fifth of the season in 10 matches, moved the Chiefs to within a point of the fourth-place ACT Brumbies for the final semifinal play-off spot with three rounds to go.
After the Cheetahs lost their first line-out, the Chiefs flung the ball out to the left. Sivivatu drew the defence and moments later Donald dove over to score under the uprights.
Donald converted his own try and the Chiefs lead 7-0 before most of the Waikato Stadium crowd had settled into their seats. Two minutes later, Sivivatu scored his fifth try of the season after a loose Cheetahs ball resulted in a turnover in their own territory.
After Willem de Waal put the Cheetahs on the board with a 12th-minute penalty, Liam Messam, carrying two South African defenders over the goal line, gave the Chiefs their third try and a 21-3 lead after 16 minutes.
The Cheetahs scored their first try three minutes later, with Ronnie Cooke scoring.
After de Waal scored the second Cheetahs try, Donald and Sivivatu combined to score with a minute left in the half, with Sivivatu crossing for his second try to give Waikato a 26-17 lead and a bonus point by half-time.
Ollie le Roux scored an unconverted try seven minutes into the second half to pull the Cheetahs to 26-22, but Hohneck helped put Waikato back in control seven minutes later, and Donald’s conversion put the home side up 33-22 with 25 minutes left.
After another Cheetahs penalty goal, the South African side pulled to within a point with 10 minutes to go when Giscard Pieters took advantage of a Chiefs turnover two metres from the home side’s tryline.
Donald missed a penalty which would have given Waikato a four-point lead with seven minutes left, but the Chiefs held on for the one-point win. The Cheetahs picked up two bonus points.
”We had such a strong start, it’s a pity we couldn’t have followed on from that,” said Chiefs captain Marty Holah.
”We were a bit shell-shocked in the beginning, but I’m proud of the way we came back,” said Cheetahs captain Ryno van der Merwe. ”It’s unfortunate we let in two soft tries as we tried to recover.” — Sapa-AP