Cheetahs stay alive with Nelspruit rout of Pumas
MATCH REPORT: The Cheetahs booked their place in the Currie Cup semifinals with a 41-14 rout of the Pumas in a Round 10 encounter at the Mbombela Stadium, in Nelspruit, on Saturday.
The Cheetahs, who will finish the league stages of the competition in fourth place, will head to Ellis Park in Johannesburg next week to face the table-topping Lions.
The other semifinal will see the Bulls host the Sharks in Pretoria, even though they still play each other in a dead rubber in Durban on Sunday.
After a tightly contested first half, the Cheetahs held a slender 14-9 lead at the half-time break.
The home team drew level 14-all on the 50-minute mark, but failed to score in the last half-hour.
The visitors turned up the heat and tempo, adding five more tries - including two in the last five minutes - to take the game away and book a trip to the Highveld.
* To recap all the action, CLICK HERE!
* (The article continues below ...)
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It was a nervous start for the Cheetahs - flyhalf Ethan Wentzel putting the kick-off directly into touch and prop Schalk Ferreira penalised at the subsequent scrum.
Pumas flyhalf Clinton Swart put the home team on the board with a 50-metre penalty.
That was followed by an offside penalty against the visitors, Swart making it 6-0 after five minutes.
Two minutes later the Pumas lost scrumhalf Ross Braude when he got his leg trapped awkwardly in a tackle.
The Cheetahs eventually worked their way back into the game.
From a line-out that turned into a scrum five metres from the Pumas' line, the visitors went to the openside and Wentzel put Daniel Kasende into space and the wing wriggled his way over the line. Wentzel's conversion put the Cheetahs in front at the end of the first quarter.
Ten minutes later the Cheetahs stretched that lead - pounding the home team's line with raid after forward raid, till scrumhalf Jandre Nel sneaked over from close range. Wentzel made it 14-6.
Swart narrowed the gap to 9-14 with his third penalty - which is how it stayed till half-time, though the Pumas finished with a power surge upfield.
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The Cheetahs had an error-riddled start to the second half, with a Darren Adonis intervention stopping an early try. That was followed by a Clinton Swart turnover metres from the Pumas' line and replacement Litha Nkula kicking the ball dead from a penalty.
From a poorly executed kick by the Cheetahs, the Pumas flooded the breakdowns inside the Cheetahs 22 and eventually, Ntsika Fisanti burrowed over from a metre out. Swart could not convert - 14-all after 49 minutes.
The Cheetahs hit back straight away - Wentzel putting Munier Hartzenberg into space and the wing sprinting over. Wentzel added the conversion - 21-14 after 52 minutes.
The Cheetahs pack now started asserting their dominance and a scrum penalty allowed the visitors to set up a line-out five metres from the Pumas' line. The maul went to ground, but the Cheetahs kept pounding away with their forwards - BEFORE QUICK HAnds saw Kasende go over on the left wing for his second try. Wentzel missed the conversion - 26-14 after 62 minutes.
The Pumas started getting desperate and in the process became a touch manic - fullback Tino Swanepoel knocking on with a two-man overlap just 10 metres from the Cheetahs' line.
It was the kind of impatience that saw coach Jimmy Stonehouse's blood pressure rising significantly.
In contrast, the Cheetahs were happy to just take the ball through multiple phases and work their way into the Pumas' 22.
Another scrum penalty allowed replacement George Lourens to take the Cheetahs into a 15-point lead, 29-14, with 10 minutes remaining.
With time running out and the Pumas' heads - not to mention concentration levels - dropping, Aidon Davis and Gideon van der Merwe went over to put the seal on a comprehensive win.
Lourens converted the second of those - 41-14 the final score.
The scorers
For the Pumas
Try: Fisanti
Pens: Swart 3
For the Cheetahs
Tries: Kasende 2, Nel, Hartzenberg, Davis, Van der Merwe
Cons: Wentzel 3, Lourens
Pen: Lourens
Teams:
Pumas: 15 Tino Swanepoel, 14 Stefan Coetzee, 13 David Brits, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Darren Adonis, 10 Clinton Swart, 9 Ross Braude, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Ruwald van der Merwe, 6 Ntsika Fisanti, 5 Deon Slabbert, 4 Malembe Mpofu, 3 Sampie Swiegers, 2 Eduan Swart, 1 Etienne Janeke
Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Stephan de Jager, 18 Dewald Maritz, 19 Jeandre Leonard, 20 Marvelous Mashimbyi, 21 Andre Fouche, 22 Danrich Visagie, 23 Phiko Sobahle
Cheetahs: 15 Michael Annies, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 Evardi Boshoff, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Daniel Kasende, 10 Ethan Wentzel, 9 Jandre Nel, 8 Jeandrè Rudolph, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Robert Hunt, 2 Corne Fourie, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Hencus van Wyk, 18 Laurence Victor, 19 Aidon Davis, 20 Sisonke Vumazonke, 21 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22 George Lourens, 23 Litha Nkula
Referee: Christopher Allison
Assistant referees: Paul Mente, Hanru van Rooyen
TMO: Stephan Geldenhuys
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