Two tries: Sarel Pretorius
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The Cheetahs almost squandered a massive lead but held on for a 47-36 Super Rugby win over the Brumbies in Bloemfontein on Friday.
The Cheetahs led 32-26 at half time, but the game really should have been over as a contest after 20 minutes.
After seeing the Cheetahs charge to a 25-0 lead, the Brumbies clawed their way back into contention and actually outscored their hosts five tries to four.
However five second-half penalties from fly-half Sias Ebersohn eventually saw the Cheetahs home as they clinched their second win of the season.
We expected a high-scored game and were weren't disappointed as, once again, the Cheetahs conspired to give away soft tries.
By the time the half-time hooter sounded both teams had already bagged a four-try bonus point and were separated only by two massive drop goals from Cheetahs full-back Riaan Viljoen.
The home side raced to 25-0 lead inside the first quarter as loosehead Coenie Oosthuizen, scrum-half Sarel Pretorius and tighthead WP Nel all touched down while Viljoen nailed two drops, including one from his own half.
While the Cheetahs had been rampant in the first 20 minutes, the second quarter belonged to the Brumbies, who cashed in on some woeful defending from their hosts.
Francis Fainifo got the ball rolling when he pierced the midfield to score under the sticks.
Pretorius got his second for the Cheetahs before Brumbies finally found some rhythm and cohesion as Ben Alexander, Michael Hooper and Adam Ashley-Cooper added their names to the scorecard.
After the restart fly-half Sias Ebersohn opened the gap to 41-29 with three penalties to Matt Giteau's one.
When Josh Valentine snuck through the inside channel and set up Robbie Coleman to score with his first touch of the ball, the gap was reduced to just five points.
But, for the first time this season, the Cheetahs managed to keep their composure in the last quarter as Ebersohn could add two more penalties to seal the deal.
The scorers:
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Oosthuizen, Pretorius 2, Nel
Cons: S. Ebersohn 3
Pens: S. Ebersohn 5
Drops: Viljoen 2
For the Brumbies:
Tries: Fainifo, Alexander, Hooper, Ashley-Cooper, Coleman
Cons: Giteau 4
Pen: Giteau
Yellow card: Lealiifano (Brumbies - 63rd min - tip tackle)
The teams:
Cheetahs: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Philip Burger, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Corne Uys, 11 Ryno Benjamin, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Davon Raubenheimer, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Francois Uys, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Lourens Adriaanse, 18 Martin Muller, 19 Leon Karemaker, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Naas Olivier, 22 Hennie Daniller.
Brumbies: 15 Pat McCabe, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Andrew Smith, 12 Matt Giteau (c), 11 Francis Fainifo,10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 Pat Phibbs, 8 Colby Faingaa, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Mitchell Chapman, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Peter Kimlin, 3 Dan Palmer, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Jono Owen, 18 Ben Hand, 19 Julian Salvi, 20 Josh Valentine, 21 Tyrone Smith, 22 Robbie Coleman.
Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Referee: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
Comments
dylster says...
how good is pretorius at the moment?! i reckon he is the best halfback in SA at the moment
Posted 09:28 01st May 2011
7nezking says...
This must be the worst Brumbies side ever
Posted 15:47 30th April 2011
Bones7 says...
Super Rugby scores are becoming ridiculous. The defence is embarrassing to watch at times. Tries just aren't entertaining when they are so easy to come by
Posted 10:46 30th April 2011
blametheref says...
Interesting to hear your comments, I think it's going to make the world cup facinating as most NH teams are still centered on defence first but against that most SH teams have all round better playmakers in attack...but are SH teams shirking their defense...think this WC will be the best as there will be obviously NZ as clear favourites but Australia, SA, France, England, Ireland, even Fiji (if they could get their coaching sorted and a full team on the pitch) could actually win it...I feel the pressure on NZ is immense and especially on Carter and Mc Caw, I often wonder how good they'd be without them??
Posted 09:18 30th April 2011
philipjfry says...
The teams with the least points on the log are almost always the teams who are involved in high scoring games. Expanding Super Rugby to even 14 teams was never a good idea.
Posted 09:14 30th April 2011
nareikc says...
@blametheref....i was thinking almost exactly along the same lines. Theirs just something not quiet right with these huge scorelines i think
Posted 21:45 29th April 2011
keste03 says...
this game had the poorest defending ever seen in professional rugby - but mind you, the cheetahs were really good the first 20 min
Posted 21:15 29th April 2011
blametheref says...
These scores are becoming wilder by the day, it's getting like basketball...are these scorelines down to great attacking or poor defending or is it question of "we know we can score more tries than you so we don't give a damn about letting a few in"? From a football point of view, a bit like Barcelona..."yea, we let 3 in but we scored 7." If that is the case, brilliant...but is it?
Posted 20:56 29th April 2011