Played well: Piet van Zyl
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The Chiefs made it six victories from seven in Super Rugby with a five-try performance seeing off the Cheetahs 39-33 in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Replacement fly-half Johan Goosen salvaged a losing bonus-point for the home side but it was a deserved five points for the in-form Waikato men.
In a sprightly affair, the Chiefs started much the brighter and had a 10-9 lead at half-time thanks to a Lelia Masaga try and Aaron Cruden's boot.
However, the Cheetah then clicked into gear after the break as Ashley Johnson demonstrated his uncanny ability to make an impact. The soon-to-be Wasps flanker swooped on a Tawera Kerr-Barlow pass to intercept before racing half of the field for a try that looked to have turned the game.
But that proved not to be as the Chiefs had tries from Lelia Masaga, Sona Taumololo (2), Sonny Bill Williams and Richard Kahui to their name.
The Cheetahs showed their intent from the start and were up 3-0 thanks to fly-half Sias Ebersohn, who was in for injury struggling number ten Goosen.
Chiefs pivot Cruden replied soon after with his own penalty to level the scores before the visitors found their stride when, on 20 minutes, wing Masaga scored following a sniping run by Andrew Horrell, who started ahead of Robbie Robinson. Cruden slotted for a 10-3 lead.
Ebersohn kicked two more penalties though before the half-time break to make it 9-10.
The Cheetahs started the second 40 well but an error allowed the Chiefs to go down the other end where try-scoring prop machine Taumalolo burst over the whitewash.
Ebersohn kicked his fourth penalty soon after before the emergence of Johnson from the bench saw him make an almost immediate impact, intercepting and racing 50 metres for a key try. Replacement Goosen stepped up to convert. He then added a 56th minute penalty.
But back came the Chiefs via a Cruden penalty and then Taumalolo was over again.
It seemed like the beginning of the end for the Cheetahs as when inside centre Williams showed power to cross for their fourth try, one sensed the writing was on the wall. And so it proved as centre partner Kahui scored their final try on 74 minutes to make it 39-25.
However, Goosen then crossed for a late consolation and despite missing the conversion, he added a last-second penalty to hand his side a losing bonus-point in Bloemfontein.
The scorers:
For Cheetahs:
Tries: Johnson, Goosen
Con: Goosen
Pen: Ebersohn 4, Goosen 3
For Chiefs:
Tries: Masaga, Taumololo 2, SB Williams, Kahui
Con: Cruden 4
Pen: Cruden 2
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Ryno Benjamin, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Willie le Roux, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Justin Downey, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 George Earle, 3 WP Nel, 2 Hercu Liebenberg, 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Rayno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Andries Ferreira, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Johan Goosen, 22 Philip Snyman.
Chiefs: 15 Andrew Horrell, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Tim Nanai-Williams, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Alex Bradley, 7 Tanerau Latimer, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Craig Clarke (c), 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Hika Elliot, 1 Arizona Taumalolo.
Replacements: 16 Mahonri Schwalger, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 Michael Fitzgerald, 19 Sam Cane, 20 Augustine Pulu, 21 Asaeli Tikoirotuma, 22 Robbie Robinson.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Sindile Mayende (South Africa), Stefan Breytenbach (South Africa)
Television match officials: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
Comments
seedbag says...
UMM u guys saying Tameifuna was running interference do u really think a Cheetahs foward was gonna run Masanga((The Flash) fastest guy in S15) down with a 2m headstart within 10m... really??
Posted 09:56 19th April 2012
Euskadi says...
@ tweedle...after seeing the VdW attempt to milk a penalty and considering the constant blame from some SA posters here when a team from SA loses then I can only conclude that SA are taught different laws to the rest of the rugby playing world
Posted 16:18 16th April 2012
FTM89 says...
I just want to paint picture for your guys. In the 70th minute Brussouw got penalized for being of his feet at the ruck. This were in fact untrue but were the turning point in the game. The chiefs kick the ball out and scored a try from that penalty. They got all the momentum and scored another one. There was no change for the cheetahs to come back from that.
So its scary how much one mistake in the game can twist everything around¿The ref most definitely made mistakes both sides but one to many that cause an upset in my heart¿
Posted 15:22 16th April 2012
tweedledee49 says...
lol@safehands for taking Ramage's post seriously! whats wrong with people not getting sarcasm? youre like the kiwi version of leebok
@Wallaroo, youre right mate, we all whinge and are disrsepectful when our team loses but please tell me were not as annoying as bokavenger, leebok, BVD?lol...hell, even trinats is not as annoying as these 3 and i mean these 3 only i respect the other springbok fans.
p.s trinats if youre reading this, i was not taking a jab at you, honestly :)
Posted 15:15 16th April 2012
Ramage says...
OMG one minute Im accused of being a zenophobe by a saffa then Im accused of being a saffa by a kiwi? What next deay, deary me there's only one more thing I dread and that's being mistaken for an Aussie lol. Just goes to show we are a precious lot on here aren't we?
Thanks safehands if you are a kiwi you have just proved we have some dumb ones too. Obviously you have never read any of my posts before this one and rushed off to print. Safehands the problem with the written word is you cant see my smirk and maniacal manson grin as I write what you take objection too. Go back and read some of my other posts and after that re read what I have written on this particular game lol. By the way I hope you have plenty of time on your hands as the posts are quite lengthy and there are plenty of them. Good luck.
CapedCrusader thank you for your post well put.
Posted 13:29 16th April 2012
Capedcrusader says...
@all
I wouldn't worry too much about the pathetic insular attitudes of those who mention the ref being at fault for a (most often SA) team losing - sorry but the stats don't lie. Those of us that actually understand, love and respect the game know only too well that a game is always won or lost outside of the few inconsistent calls made by the referee. Every decent team - players & management will always mention post match that this or that tactic or period in the game determined the outcome of a match.
Just feel happy when your chosen team plays as consistently as you would expect and gets the results they should with a few surprise results on occasion based on the character of the opposition.
Those that blame the ref for the outcome of a game simply don't like their team / country losing and need an outpour to get over the fact they are clueless and ignorant on the intricacies of our beloved game. Shame really
Posted 13:00 16th April 2012
tweedledee49 says...
@euskadi, im a chiefs fan and i was wondering the same thing about tameifuna...not sure about the law bout holding your ground while running but that maybe it...or maybe im just lookin for an excuse lol
Posted 04:28 16th April 2012
Ramage says...
Thanks Wallaroo appreciate you insight into my posts. However I can't agree with your first point. Can I just say Bryce Lawrence. Yes it is ust as embarassing as it was when it was Wayne Barnes. One only needs to read the posts on this sight when a NZ team wins to see that they only win because referees lean over backwards to help them under direction of the IRB if they aren't Kiwi refs. If they are kiwi refs then they cheat and ignore the laws.Hence the reason for my posts. If some think I am going on about this I would suggest they take off the blinkers stop denigrating good men and read the crap that is being written on here by some people. I enjoy the rugby being played by the teams, yes sometimes it is below par but I marvel at the skills of the modern day player. The game is played at a frenetic pace and any referee is going to get caught out at times. All I ask is accept mistakes are made without the accusations of bias and cheating depending on the nationality of the referee. If you don't agree then list what you think is wrong and at least accept that in fact your interpretation could also be wrong. By the way I see the Bulls won their game at the weekend despite having a kiwi ref and not one person even commented on the game.
Posted 03:26 16th April 2012
isthatrightref says...
What I find interesting is that if you read the comments from the 6 matches played over the weekend, only 3 have posts claiming bias or corruption on the part of the match official(s). All 3 have one thing in common: the SA team lost. The handful of idiots responsible need to be ridiculed at every opportunity. It seemed to work with BVD (or is he back as another Bok-something/ something-Bok?). We want to know what our SA friends think, we don't need them to be having to apologise for the fumbducks who happen to originate from the same country, or have to wade through the bile spewed by said fumbducks.
If the constant whining was coming out of NZ or Australia or anywhere else for that matter I'd be saying the exact same things as above. Our game doesn't need this kind of crap. Let's get rid of it.
Posted 22:23 15th April 2012
darthbok says...
great game, superbly refereed, chiefs deserved to win, and ashley johnson was great -- going to wasps I hear ? maybe not, seeing as how they`re about to go bust and be relegated -- could stay with the cheetahs
Posted 21:58 15th April 2012
Euskadi says...
A small observation; was Philip VdW looking for Pro Legoete to intervene so Kaplan would penalise Tameifuna for running interference when Masaga scored the Chiefs opening try? Watch a replay of that first try.
Posted 16:23 15th April 2012
jonesy2 says...
hahahaha oh boy Ramage the funny thing is while youre clearly taking the piss and being acutely sarcastic, @BokAvenger is not. im being serious that this guy has more than a few things wrong with him. someone locate him and get him the help he obviously requires
Posted 10:58 15th April 2012
Ramage says...
Oh well you have to hand it to bokavenger at least he is consistent he has his theme and no matter what happens in any game he keeps it coming. I wonder who is responsible for this IRB crusade against South Africa especially at referee level. I wonder whether there will be any change with Paddy being shifted on or whether this plot to do in South African teams is too ingrained to ever be stopped.Maybe the elevation of that top and excellent South African referee of yester year, Tappe Henning, will help stem it. Surely when Andre Watson takes over Paddy's old job it will stop, for if it doesn't some very serious questions will need to be asked. This diabolical plot hatched by someone at the IRB, yet to be named, has to be stopped as it unfairly picks out South Africa as opposed to other countries in World Rugby.
Posted 09:40 15th April 2012
makemehappy says...
Let's face it, it was some awful defending that cost the Cheetahs and not the ref, who to me (as a neutral) certainly seemed to be given the Cheetahs quite a few underserved penalties, as well as having a liberal interpretation of 'flat' passes. The Cheetahs seem a more competent team this year without a doubt. As for the Chiefs, well I'm still not convinced by their forward platform. I still don't think they will make the play-offs, even from their lofty position.
Posted 09:35 15th April 2012
golden_statenba says...
@Billy
Channel surfing it was on sky4. I usually only watch international rugby but this was a good game. As a neutral the reff seemed fine to me?
He made mistakes both ways as they do but blaming the ref is just another way of trying to avoid the fact the fact that your team was 2nd best on the day.
Posted 08:39 15th April 2012
bloemboy says...
@billymutt, p2p4u.net
Posted 06:21 15th April 2012
hayj05 says...
@Bloemboy - I like the fact that eventhough you couldn't resist complaining about the ref you can still give credit to the Chiefs for a much deserved win. Unlike the others on here. Well done.
Posted 02:40 15th April 2012
hayj05 says...
I can't believe people are complaing about the ref in this one, I actually thought he mostly favoured the Cheetahs with a couple of judgement calls going the Chiefs way. Regardless of the influence of the Ref, the Chiefs were easily the better side. Five tries to two says it all & if they were more patient in the first half they could of scored more.
@Ramage - Cheeting Kiwis? He's a Saffa!! Just say for the sake of your argument. Say he decided to take money to favour a certain side, it would still be a South African cheating! Eventhough what your saying is completely absurd.
Posted 02:34 15th April 2012
safehands says...
@ Ramage (if you are a saffa....either way I don't care 'cos you sound like one) and BokAvenger.......you two appear to be the biggest tools on this entire website......now even your own refs are cheats?? WTF??
What a bunch of pathetic sore losers!!
A common trend here on this site...saffa team loses...scores of saffas and 'supposed' neutrals whinge incessantly about how the entire rugby world is in cahoots to cheat saffa teams and help the kiwi teams to win....NEWSFLASH....we don't need help to beat saffa teams as you simply are not as good as your ego's like to think they are!!
Another trend.....saffa team wins....boks will rule the world again comments flying everywhere....huh?? Gotta stop typing now....laughing way too much haha...ooh my ribs hurt....hahaha!!
Posted 02:25 15th April 2012
ruggaluva says...
Good game this.... really cld have gone either way at one point - the diffs being that 20 mins out from full time the cheetahs decided it wld be a good time to hoist a bunch of aimless kicks onto the Chiefs back three. bad bad bad stupid. contrast this to the Bulls who 2nd half against the crusaders were tucking the ball in amongst the forwards and keeping it tight. ( until last 7 mins)
guess which team won their fixture ?
cheetahs just dont learn... there's loose play and then there is unraveled play.
Posted 23:48 14th April 2012