The Cheetahs proved why they are Currie Cup champions with a 66-9 demolition job on the Valke in Brakpan on Friday night.
Led by a rampant Willem de Waal, who controlled the game throughout, the Cheetahs overwhelmed the home side and scored a massive ten tries without reply to underline their dominance at this level.
The Cheetahs were expected to struggle on the hard fields of Brakpan.
Instead, they turned on the heat to show that the Vodacom Cup champions are a long way from the Currie Cup equivalent.
The scoring was opened by De Waal, as he capitalised on a perfect bounce after he chipped and the Valke fluffed the easy catch in their own-goal area, allowing De Waal to gather and score.
Flank Darron Nel was at the end of a cluster of hands for the second, as the Valke were unable to contain the Cheetahs’ open play. Michael Claassens went over shortly afterwards and was followed by
De Waal to clinch the bonus point, shortly before half-time, when he ran through two half-hearted tackles.
The Falcons only had two penalties and a drop goal for their efforts, through Louis Strydom, and failed to add a single point in the second half.
The Cheetahs opened the try-scoring taps in the second half and the Valke had no reply.
Midfielder JW Jonker scored just after half-time to underline the dominance, before Giscard Pieters made the second half his own with a hat-trick of tries — the first two coming within two minutes — before Phillip Burger finished off the game with a perfect inside jink to see a cold Brakpan finish red-hot for the men from the Central franchise. — Sapa