Solid win for Free State Cheetahs
A rampant Free State Cheetahs outfit, led by a stunning performance from wing Rosko Specman, ran out 30-17 winners over Western Province in their Currie Cup clash in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
The Cheetahs blew the Sharks out of the water in their previous fixture and carried on where they left off with Specman handing them the best possible start just three minutes in.
The wing showed good positional awareness to get back and retrieve a clearance kick from Kurt Coleman and then produced a bit of magic by taking the ball to the gain line and smashing through the Province defence before going over for the game's first try.
The visitors boasted well over 60 percent of the possession mid-way through the first half, but had a singular Coleman penalty to show for it as the Cheetahs showed off a very solid defensive line.
The home side played fairly fast and loose with the games laws throughout the encounter and Oupa Mohoje went one step too far in the 33rd minute when he hit the side of a maul and earned himself 10 minutes in the sin bin.
Two penalties from Niel Marais extended the Cheetahs' lead to 11-3 with the half time break approaching when the Cape side finally found a way back into the game through Justin Phillips in the 37th minute.
After letting his forwards have several goes at the tryline, the scrum-half then went himself and showed great agility to twist over the line and ground the ball for the try.
However, their joy was very short lived as, just three minutes later, Specman broke the line yet again to set up William Small-Smith with a deft pass inside to send the centre over the line and restore the Cheetahs' lead 18-10.
After the break, the home side took the game away from Western Province, striking early once again just five minutes after the restart through Francois Venter.
The break came through none other than Specman, who nearly went all the way himself, but had to offload to his captain to score as he got caught just before the line.
Another conversion from Marais took the score to an intimidating 25-10.
With Province seemingly self destructing, Ox Nche thought he'd dotted down his side's fourth try in the 49th minute, but it was disallowed after the television match official ruled he had lost the ball forward.
The home crowd did not have to wait long for a fourth try, though. Just three minutes later Makazole Mapimpi grounded the ball superbly in the corner under heavy pressure Seabelo Senatla and the game was all but over.
The visitors continued to dominate possession throughout the match, but were consistently held at bay by some superb defending from the hosts.
However, they were able to grab a consolation try with seven minutes left on the clock with Steph de Wit able to cross the whitewash to give the scoreline some measure of respectability for Province.
All-in-all, it was a thoroughly impressive and professional performance from the Cheetahs to back up their demolition of the Sharks last week and they are starting to look like a real contender for the Currie Cup crown already.
The scorers:
For FS Cheetahs:
Tries: Specman, Small-Smith, Venter, Mapimpi
Cons: Marais 2
Pens: Marais 2
For Western Province:
Tries: Phillips, De Wit
Cons: Coleman, Thomson
Pen: Coleman
FS Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Rosko Specman, 13 Francois Venter, 12 William Small-Smith, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Uzair Cassiem, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Neill Jordaan, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Charles Marais
Replacements: 16 Ox Nche, 17 Reinach Venter, 18 Rynier Bernardo, 19 Henco Venter, 20 Zee Mkhabela, 21 Rayno Benjamin, 22 Malcolm Jaer
Western Province: 15 SP Marais, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Michael Hazner, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Kobus van Dyk, 5 JD Shickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Ramone Samuels, 1 Ali Vermaak
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Steph de Wit, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Brandon Thomson
Referee: AJ Jacobs
Assistant Referees: Jaco Kotze, Griffin Colby
TMO: JJ Wagner