Cheetahs fight back to beat Benetton
The Cheetahs came from behind to beat Benetton Rugby 31-25 in a thrilling PRO14 game at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Tries from Nico Lee, Shaun Venter and a Daniel Maartens brace helped them to the maximum, with Tian Schoeman and Louis Fouche kicking points.
Benetton Rugby’s five-pointers came via Marco Zanon, Dewaldt Duvenage and Ian McKinley, the latter also adding 10 points off the tee for his side.
Cheetahs were trailing 15-7 at the end of the first period as Zanon and Duvenage’s crossings put Benetton in a solid position at the turnaround.
Wing Zanon opened the scoring early on before Cheetahs centre Lee hit back with a try of his own on eight minutes to nudge them 7-5 ahead.
Visiting fly-half McKinley hit a penalty that nudged his outfit back in front and with South African Duvenage’s try they were two scores in front.
That soon changed early in the second-half when Cheetahs captain Venter crossed to make it 15-14 before McKinley moved Benetton four up.
Number eight Maartens then edged the home outfit in front for the first time in the match on the 60 minute mark as the Cheetahs led 21-18.
The contest continued to swing until the final whistle too, with first McKinley going over on 69 minutes before Maartens crossed for 28-25 and then Fouche gave them a six-point lead which they held on to until the end.
The scorers:
For Cheetahs:
Tries: Lee, Venter, Maartens 2
Cons: Schoeman 3, Fouche
Pen: Fouche
For Benetton:
Tries: Zanon, Duvenage, McKinley
Cons: McKinley 2
Pens: McKinley 2
Cheetahs: 15 Malcolm Jaer, 14 Rhyno Smith, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Nico Lee, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Shaun Venter (c), 8 Daniel Maartens, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Erich de Jager, 19 Sinthu Manjezi, 20 Abongile Nonkontwana, 21 Rudi Paige, 22 Louis Fouche, 23 William Small-Smith
Benetton: 15 Angelo Esposito, 14 Marco Zanon, 13 Tommaso Iannone, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Ian McKinley, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Marco Barbini (c), 7 Michele Lamaro, 6 Giovanni Pettinelli, 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Irné Herbst, 3 Giuseppe Di Stefano, 2 Tomas Baravalle, 1 Nicola Quaglio
Replacements: 16 Hame Faiva, 17 Derrick Appiah, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Giorgio Bronzini, 22 Antonio Rizzi, 23 Alberto Sgarbi
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)
Assistant referees: Ben Crouse (South Africa), Jaco Kotze (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)