After a competitive start, the Blue Bulls secured their third win of the season on Saturday, beating the Cheetahs 31-23 at Loftus Versfeld in a Currie Cup fixture.
Both the Blue Bulls and the Cheetahs were struggling with their strong points in the opening minutes of the match with Cheetahs losing line-out ball on their own throw-in and the Bulls penalised for not binding in the scrum.
The Bulls drew first blood after a superb hand-off by Pedrie Wannenburg, who beat three defenders before flipping the pass to Akona Ndungane who scored in the left-hand corner.
The first half was a tightly fought battle between the two arch-rivals. The Bulls played a more expansive game than they are known for and tested the Cheetah defence, which managed to hold firm, but handling errors gave the Bulls a plethora of ball.
Two late penalties by either side saw the Bulls go into the break with an 11-9 lead — a score line that was a fair reflection of the play thus far.
Five minutes into the second half, the Cheetahs scored their first try with Jongi Nokwe chipping a kick over the Blue Bulls defenders’ heads. Blue Bulls centre Marius Delport touched the ball with his fingertips, but the ball bounced perfect for Nokwe who touched the ball down.
With 18 649 Loftus faithful in attendance despite the cold weather, the Bulls now had to deal with rain coming down as well as a Cheetah onslaught. But they hit back minutes later with Wynand Olivier just sliding over for the Bulls’ second try.
Fourie du Preez made his long-awaited appearance in the place of JP Joubert and showed his worth from the start with secure line kicks.
The game was pretty much out of the Cheetahs’ reach with the Bulls’ third try. Danie Rossouw scored when Morne Steyn ran into a wide gap after the Bulls stole a Cheetah line-out ball.
The Cheetahs, however, did not give up and kept on attacking the Blue Bull line. Six minutes from full-time, the Cheetahs were in a favourable position to close the gap. After a first push over scrum attempt went to a TMO decision and was declined, Hendro Scholtz scored their second try and a Chris Rossouw conversion brought them within five points of the hosts.
Steyn had the last say of the match, slotting over his fourth penalty in the last minute, sending the Cheetahs home with their second loss of the season and denying them a bonus point in the process.
Exciting win for Griquas
Griquas for the first time in many years edged Western Province 21-20 in a Currie Cup fixture played at a very cold, though cloudless, Absa Park in Kimberley on Saturday.
Defending tenaciously throughout the encounter, Griquas led 12-6 at half-time. Both teams scored two tries.
Griquas took the field desperate to log their first Currie Cup win of the season, and in the end it was this hunger for victory that carried them — despite of the historical odds stacked against them.
While in the end only a solitary point separated the two teams, had Griquas flyhalf Conrad Barnard been wearing his kicking boots, their victory margin could well have been a comfortable 10 points or more.
The foundation for the Griquas victory was laid by their forwards who were outstanding on the day — scrumming well and giving a much-improved performance in the line-outs.
Stand-outs in the Griquas pack were man-of-the match lock Wayne van Heerden, replacement flank Gareth Krause (who replaced the injured Frans Viljoen in the 15th minute) and hooker James van der Walt.
Prominent for Province were their vastly experienced eighthman AJ Venter and lock Ross Skeate in his 50th match for the visitors. Paul Delport was an early replacement for injured scrumhalf Alistair Siegelaar.
Lions achieve goal
It may not have been perfect, but the Lions did what they set out to do against the Kavaliers and collected a full house of five log points from their Currie Cup match at Coca Cola Park on Saturday. The score was 57-17 and included eight Lions tries to the two of the Kavaliers.
Coach Eugene Eloff said during the week that last year’s losing finalists aimed for five points to get back in the race for the play-offs, and his charges didn’t let him down. The bonus point came in the first minute after the break, which was the Lions’ third try in just more than eight minutes. That knocked the stuffing out of the Kavaliers.
With the scores tied at 10-all about seven minutes before half-time, the Kavaliers forwards, in particular, seemed up for the task.
However, with the exception of Sevens star Stefan Basson — who showed what vision and options are all about — the Kavaliers seemed to have little penetration for all the good work by their forwards who also started to fade as the score mounted.
The first try of the match came from an intercept when Kavaliers lock Cecil Kemp ran about 30m for number eight Dries van Schalkwyk to score under the posts.
The expansive play by the Lions, whose backs looked quite sharp, brought them close on a number of occasions until Earl Rose added a try to last week’s three. The two sides were then tied at 10-all until seven minutes from the break. First Doppies le Grange cut inside from a back-line move to carry an opponent over under the posts, and then a good inside pass from a hard-running Louis Ludik on the wing saw Jano Vermaak score.
With all three tries converted and a Rose penalty, the match seemed secure at the break with the Lions 24-10 ahead. The score line was perhaps a little flattering, but in fairness the Kavaliers seldom looked like scoring while the Lions often threatened.
When Alten Hulme, who had a lively game at lock, went over under the posts a minute after the break and Jaco Pretorius finished in the corner two minutes later for Rose to convert with a lovely kick, it was all over as a contest at 38-10 and a hiding for the Kavaliers was on the cards.
And so it proved, with tries by Willem Alberts, Jaco van Schalkwyk and another by Pretorius following.
Generally the Lions looked more structured than they had in their previous matches and finished more clinical, although coach Eloff still has some work on the finishing. — Sapa