/ 20 February 2009

Force hold off dogged Cheetahs to record first win

The Western Force opened their Super 14 account with a 16-10 victory over a dogged Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs in hot and humid conditions in Perth on Friday.

After leading 13-7 at halftime, the Force held out against a Cheetahs outfit desperate to record their first win away from home in 14 attempts.

Both sides scored one try but Wallaby flyhalf Matt Giteau gave the home side the edge with two penalties and a drop goal to ensure there would not be a repeat of the second-half capitulation against Auckland in the opening round.

Despite the closeness of the scores the Western Force always looked more dangerous and should probably have won by a greater margin.

They enjoyed far more possession than their South African opponents and appeared to handle the hot weather far better than the Cheetahs.

”The guys are very well conditioned,” Force coach John Mitchell said.

”That’s one of our capabilities, running in the game, and there was plenty of running out there tonight.”

The Force completely dominated the opening stages of the match and enjoyed almost 90% of the possession.

Giteau opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a simple penalty but that seemed to finally wake the visitors up.

The Cheetahs launched a series of attacks deep in the Western Force territory and were unlucky not to score when first hooker Adriaan Strauss and then prop Bees Roux went desperately close, both denied by the video referee.

With the game being played in temperatures hovering at about 30 degrees Celsius, the big Cheetahs forwards began to tire and the home side took advantage when 18-year-old centre James O’Connor ghosted past three defenders to cross near the posts for a converted try.

The Cheetahs looked close to capitulating at that stage, with players dropping to the ground for treatment at almost every break.

But four minutes before halftime winger Fabian Juries put a grubber kick ahead and fellow winger Danwel Demas, who until that stage had dropped every ball the Force had kicked in his direction, chased through, toed the ball ahead, regathered and dived over to put the Cheetahs back in the game.

Giteau kicked a penalty to give the Force their six-point lead at halftime, then put them out to a 16-7 advantage with a well-taken drop goal soon after the restart.

Cheetahs centre Jacques-Louis Potgieter closed the gap to 16-10 when Force number eight Richard Brown was penalised for a shoulder charge on Strauss, but with the heat affecting both sides, the game lost all structure and neither team was able to add to the scoreboard.

The Cheetahs now move on to Brisbane where they will face the Queensland Reds, while the Force face the Brumbies in Canberra. — AFP

 

AFP