Cheetahs: Held off the Force
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The Cheetahs scraped past the Western Force 17-13 in an error-strewn Super Rugby encounter in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
It wasn't pretty, in fact it was down right horrid.
But in the end the Cheetahs got the job done as the hosts bounced back from last week's heartbreaking loss to the Highlanders with a victory... even if it was unconvincing.
The Force were forced to make 90 tackles in the match - more than double the Cheetahs, who failed to make the majority of their possession and territory count in the 80 minutes that sometimes felt like 800 minutes.
The game was dominated by handling errors and frustrating phase play, while discipline also let the Force down as they conceded a string of penalties.
The result lifted the Cheetahs to 26 log points and moved them into 10th position, while the Force's woes continued after picking up only two wins in 10 outings.
The absence of injured fly-half Johan Goosen was noticable as his replacement, Sias Ebersohn, struggled to get the hosts on the front foot.
It was Ebersohn's opposite number David Harvey who managed to put the first points on the board thanks to an eighth-minute penalty.
Harvey and Ebersohn then engaged in some aerial ping-pong before the latter made a confident break and slotted the penalty from the resulting infringement at the breakdown by the visitors.
The tourists were organised on defence and seemed satisfied to be conceding penalties rather than tries, with Ebersohn slotting his second after the Force again snatched possession on the ground.
While they did not see as much of the ball in the first 40 minutes, the Force bagged three more points when Harvey slotted a penalty in the dying stages of the first half.
Scrum-half Tewis de Bruyn followed suit whilst Ebersohn received attention to give the Cheetahs a 9-6 lead at the break.
However, the Force got out of the second-half starting blocks first when centre Winston Stanley scored a converted try after charging down Cheetahs full-back Hennie Daniller's clearing kick.
The Cheetahs hit back through captain Adriaan Strauss when the in-form hooker scored in the corner a few minutes later. Ebersohn missed with the conversion, leaving his side one-point ahead.
Ebersohn did manage to find his target with a crucial penalty with a little more than half an hour left on the clock to give his team some breathing space, and could have put the result beyond doubt with five minutes remaining... but missed again.
The scorers:
For Cheetahs:
Try: Strauss
Pens: S Ebersohn 3, De Bruyn
For Force:
Try: Stanley
Con: Harvey
Pens: Harvey 2
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Cameron Jacobs, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Willie le Roux, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Justin Downey, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 George Earle, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Andries Ferreira, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Riaan Smit, 22 Philip Snyman.
Western Force: 15 Alfie Mafi, 14 Samu Wara, 13 Nick Cummins, 12 Winston Stanley, 11 Napolioni Nalaga, 10 David Harvey, 9 Brett Sheehan, 8 Matt Hodgson, 7 David Pocock (c), 6 Richard Brown, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Salesi Manu, 18 Phoenix Battye, 19 Lachlan McCaffrey, 20 Josh Holmes, 21 Ben Seymour, 22 Rory Sidey.
Referee: Stuart Berry (South Africa)
Comments
uglea says...
I would hope that referees are good enough to make the transition to S15 level. Perhaps it may be worth allocating them strong touchies (or whatever the term is nowadays) to help guide them through their transition process.
I feel that the players should be able to comment on how well the referee went, just like the weather, the condition of the field etc. I also feel that the comments players or coaches could make should not be slanderous or said with negativity - eg, if the touchie hadnt ruled on the contact by Mafu, then that try would have helped us heaps . . .
Posted 06:09 08th May 2012
Wallaroo says...
@Ramage very sound post mate. The only thing I waiver on is the call for try to be disallowed.
On one hand I wish it had been allowed but don't know if this is driven by a parochial dire to see Aussie teams win or a thought that the Force would have scored period.
On the other hand I can see how the try was disallowed in that the incident took place before the try which resulted in a penalty going to the Cheetahs.
In conclusion in the back of my mind I have been very critical of Berry but as you have rightly said this was his first super 15 game, and what a game to be blooded on.
You ............ now I feel for the guy.
Posted 04:08 08th May 2012
Ramage says...
A horrible game, the two teams played shocking rugby and seemed bewildered by the officials controlling it. Much has been said about home town refereeing in these columns but I don't intend to buy into the argument, I pass these comments.
1. This was Stuart Berry's first game in Super Rugby and he seemed somewhat uptight, maybe that was because of the horrible play from both teams. It was obvious that Pocock was really upset with many decisions and one could see him arguing with Berry which is unusual for him as he is always so self controlled. My question here was with the appointment. Why was he given this game which involved a team from overseas? In my opinion he was on a hiding to nothing. When you compare the performance of Andrew Lees an Australian, his first game, in the Bulls Rebels game then Lees comes out streets ahead of Berry. However, in this game the two teams played rugby.Wouldn't it be better to blood these refs on the teams from the same conference.
2. Berry also suffered because of an assistant, Braytenbach, who is getting quite a name for himself for weird decisions or no calls. The call that ruled out the Force try was the strangest of all. To say it was a factor for the try to be disallowed is, in my opinion, wrong. So I await any comment Bray may make in terms of Braytenbach's call. I exonerate Stu Berry as he clearly said he did not see it. It was a factor, however, in the loss of confidence by the Force in the officials.
3. Interesting that there has been a citing over dangerous play by a Cheetah's player, not seen or called by the officials, including Braytenbach so I await the outcome.
4. No mention of a citing for Brussow for eye gouging which was reported in the Western Australian Newspaper along with the play that has been cited. So one imagines there was no proof that such an incident took place.
5. Goosen is indeed sorely missed.
Posted 10:03 07th May 2012
NHsaints says...
Well done Cheetahs, I decided to follow a super rugby side after last season (mainly because it's more exciting rugby down south) and I decided to pick an underdog team who could play exciting rugby, by picking the cheetahs I have been richly rewarded with some fantastic tries but this game was...well not exactly great...Goosen makes the cheetahs tick and I can't wait to see him (from a neutral point of view) put on the green 10 jersey.
Posted 12:32 06th May 2012
Ramage says...
@carpelone they sure will no doubt about that but they have Braytenbach he seems a good sub lol.
Posted 07:59 06th May 2012
bloemboy says...
Now if only those 5 losses by less than 7 had gone the other way...... Or even just a few of those games, the Cheetahs could easily have been in the playoffs positions at this stage.
Posted 06:15 06th May 2012
Wallaroo says...
Lots of frustration from both teams, neither deserved to win or lose both equally as bad. Surprised that neither team were issued yellow cards or prizes for showing that you can break every rule in the book and still stay on the field.
Diabolical.
Posted 04:39 06th May 2012
FTM89 says...
I`m very glad the cheetah pulled this one through. Since we lost against the lions, brumbies and highlanders when we shouldn`t had...
Posted 01:48 06th May 2012
Carpelone says...
That made my day.
The Cheetahs will miss Goosen sorely.
Posted 20:35 05th May 2012