Cheetah power: Coenie Oosthuizen
Related links
Teams
Also see
The Cheetahs recorded their fourth successive Super Rugby win on Saturday as they breezed past the Melbourne Rebels 41-21 in Bloemfontein.
The home side were deserved winners as they dominated most facets of play.
The Cheetahs opened the scoring in twelfth minute with a well-taken try by their inside centre Corne Uys.
Scrum-half Sarel Pretorius set up the score with a sniping break from the base of a scrum before offloading to Uys who crossed over untouched.
In the 20th minute it was more of the same as Rayno Benjamin charged down a kick from Rebels wing Luke Rooney before regathering and crossing for the try.
Throughout the match the Rebels conceded too many turnovers and the Cheetahs made good use of these opportunities to punish there opponents. The hosts also used their scrum as an attacking platform to unleash their dangerous backline.
In the 35th minute their hard-working centre and captain was rewarded with a try from close quarters. Ten minutes earlier Ged Robinson scored the Rebels' opening try from a set-piece move at a lineout. Richard Kingi kicked the conversion.
The second half was all out action as both sides continued with their attacking game-plans.
The Rebels conceded a couple of penalties within kicking range and Cheetahs fly-half Sias Ebersohn punished them on both occasions.
The Rebels struck back with a fine try by Mark Gerrard in the 57th minute. The former Wallaby crossed over after his forwards did the groundwork at a lineout in the Cheetahs' 22 metre area.
This try seemed to re-energise the Cheetahs who dominated the next twenty minutes of this match.
They were rewarded with further tries by Uys and Strauss. Uys' touchdown saw him crossing over in the corner after a deft offload by Benjamin close to the tryline.
The match was marred by an unsavoury incident five minutes before the end when Benjamin was red carded for headbutting Rebels captain Mortlock.
Mortlock was also given a yellow card for retaliating to Benjamin's indiscretion.
And in injury time Cheetahs full-back Riaan Viljoen was also sent to the sin-bin for tackling Greg Somerville without the ball in front of the tryline.
The Rebels were awarded a penalty try for this infringement and Kingi brought proceedings to a close when he slotted the easy conversion.
The scorers:
For Cheetahs:
Tries: C Uys 2, Benjamin, A Strauss 2
Con: S Ebersohn 4, Olivier
Pen: S Ebersohn 2
For Rebels:
Tries: Robinson, Gerrard, Penalty
Con: Kingi 3
Cheetahs: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Riaan Smit, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Corne Uys, 11 Ryno Benjamin, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Davon Raubenheimer, 7 Ashley Johnson, 6 Kabamba Floors, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Francois Uys, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Lourens Adriaanse, 18 Martin Muller, 19 Johan Wessels, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Naas Olivier, 22 Hennie Daniller.
Melbourne Rebels: 15 Richard Kingi, 14 Cooper Vuna, 13 Mark Gerrard, 12 Stirling Mortlock (capt), 11 Luke Rooney, 10 Julian Huxley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Tim Davidson, 7 Jarrod Saffy, 6 Luke Jones, 5 Hugh Pyle, 4 Alister Campbell, 3 Laurie Weeks, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Greg Somerville.
Replacements: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Rodney Blake, 18 Kevin O'Neill, 19 Michael Lipman, 20 James Hilgendorf, 21 Afusipa Taumoepeau, 22 Peter Betham.
Referee: Pro Legoete (South Africa)
Comments
martinmarais78 says...
Aghhh. rugby decisions based on money ruins it again... Aussies are completely overstretched in this competition. If the tournament were based on solid rugby logic it would have been 3 teams from Oz. This competition was at its best when it was the Super 12. Only NZ could maybe contribute another team with all there talent.
Posted 09:14 22nd May 2011
Ramage says...
Makes you wonder how they were given that 5th franchise only reason was not on merit but on the fact they were Australian and a South African team in an Australian conference wouldnt work. Seems now the chickens are coming home to roost with the Australian teams being overstretched and three out of the four teams in bottom four are OZ teams. If the Force loose OConnor and he returns home to the only Oz team performing consistently then it will further weaken an already struggling franchise.
Posted 04:59 22nd May 2011
bloemboy says...
The Cheetahs were really splendid. If they can keep this team together for 2 seasons, they will be a force to be reaconed with in the super 15. Ashley Johnston has again offered his credentials for the RWC side as has Pretorius and both Ebershon's Pretorius has to have a shoe in for first pick and the enntire front row were outstanding in the tight and in the loose
Posted 23:32 21st May 2011
the_nines says...
The rebels really were woeful.
Posted 19:45 21st May 2011