Maxwane brace help Cheetahs break their duck
PRO14 REPORT: Cheetahs claimed their first win of the season, after a brace from Sibahle Maxwane helped his side overcome Cardiff Blues 21-10 in Bloemfontein.
The hosts went into the game as the only winless team in the competition, but raced into a 21-3 lead at half-time - thanks to a Maxwane double and another try from Shaun Venter.
Cardiff only had a penalty from Steve Shingler to show for their first-half efforts and despite closing the gap after the break with a Samu Manoa try with 15 minutes left, they were unable to complete the fightback.
John Mulvihill made nine changes to his side after the Blues went down to Glasgow Warriors in the Champions Cup last time out, while Cheetahs made six changes for the visit of the Welsh outfit.
And Cheetahs were rampant from the off before they eventually made their pressure pay on seven minutes after Blues gifted them possession from their own line-out.
Scrum-half Venter spotted a hole in the Cardiff defence, picked the ball up from a ruck and raced 40 metres to open the scoring, with Tian Schoeman adding the extras.
The South African franchise had their second try just minutes later, with Maxwane collecting the ball in his own half before chipping it forward and winning the race to touchdown.
Another Schoeman conversion continued Cheetahs’ perfect start, which almost got even better when Malcolm Jaer was denied his side’s third try when his foot went into touch.
Cardiff had to wait until the 20th minute to get on the scoreboard, with Shingler adding three points from a penalty after the visitors enjoyed their first sustained spell of possession.
Olly Robinson came agonisingly close to claiming the first try for the Blues, following excellent work from Matthew Morgan and Jason Harries, but he was hauled down before the line.
They were left to rue that near-miss just before the break when the ball squirted out from a Blues scrum to Venter, who put Maxwane away for his second of the game as Cheetahs took a 21-3 lead into the interval.
Cheetahs celebrated what they thought was a bonus-point try on 50 minutes, but Jaer was denied again after he was adjudged to have been in an offside position in the build-up.
In response, Cardiff was living dangerously as they searched for a chink in Cheetahs’ armour – with Shingler attempting to run the ball out from his own line.
But just when it looked like it wasn’t going to be Cardiff’s day, Manoa charged down Schoeman and beat Maxwane to the ball to give his side a glimmer of hope, with Shingler adding the extras.
Cardiff continued to press for another score as the clock ticked down and came close to crossing the whitewash with a line-out drive that was well defended by the hosts.
However, nothing was going to deny Cheetahs their day and they held on to get off the mark in Conference A, closing the gap to Zebre to six points.
The scorers:
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Venter, Maxwane 2
Cons: Schoeman 3
For Cardiff Blues:
Try: Manoa
Con: Shingler
Pen: Shingler
The teams:
Cheetahs: 15 Malcolm Jaer, 14 Rhyno Smith, 13 Bernhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 William Small-Smith, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Shaun Venter (captain), 8 Neil Jordaan, 7 Junior Pokamela, 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Reinach Venter, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Erich de Jager, 19 Sinthu Manjezi, 20 Abongile Nonkontwana, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Louis Fouche, 23 Nico Lee
Cardiff Blues: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Jason Harries, 13 Garyn Smith, 12 Rey Lee-Lo, 11 Aled Summerhill, 10 Steve Shingler, 9 Lloyd Williams (captain), 8 Seb Davies, 7 Olly Robinson, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 George Earle, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Ethan Lewis, 1 Brad Thyer
Replacements: 16 Liam Belcher, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Samu Manoa, 20 Nick Williams, 21 Lewis Jones, 22 Dan Fish, 23 Willis Halaholo
Referee: Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Quinton Immelman (South Africa), Ruhan Meiring (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)