A hat-trick of tries by Springbok midfielder Jaque Fourie was enough to stave off a late fightback by the Blues and give the Cats a morale-boosting victory in their last game of the Super 14 at Ellis Park on Saturday, winning narrowly 34-33.
Fourie was exceptional in midfield and proved his class once again as he tore open gaps in the Blues defence and pounced for his three tries to ensure that the Cats kept their 13th place in the 14 team log.
It was only the Cats’ second win of the season, and one which was celebrated all round at Ellis Park.
The home side opened their scoring with an Andre Pretorius penalty, before Fourie started weaving his magic in the midfield, and took a beauty of a pop pass in the gap to put his side 10-0 up.
Pretorius added another penalty before a sniping run around the fringes by Vermaak extended the lead to 20-0 and the prospect of a big win by the Cats was on the cards.
However, with the amount of backline talent in the Blues it was unlikely that this would ever happen, as first Isa Nacewa found his way through a host of defenders and then on the stroke of halftime Anthony Tuituvake streaked left and right for a beauty of an individual try to narrow the deficit to six points.
Fourie proved his class early in the second half by extending the lead twice by first taking an exceptional dummy and then a beautiful run on the outside to put the Cats 34-14 up.
But then the Blues started their comeback, first through a try by Brent Ward before Kurtis Haiu crashed over from close range to put them eight points out.
A blistering counter attack from deep within their own 22m area saw Doug Howlett eventually take a pass from Nacewa to streak in on the stroke of fulltime. And the conversion made it a one-point game, with the Cats holding on for dear life at the end. – Sapa