Cheetahs edge Bloem thriller

The Cheetahs hung on desperately for a thrilling one-point (25-24) Super Rugby win over the Blues in Bloemfontein on Friday.

As long as living memory, wise old men have said it, nodding sagely, and all around would nod agreement.

They applied it to many things but above all to rugby football.

"Possession is nine-tenths of the law," they would say. And then you watched this evening's match in Bloemfontein.

I suppose you could say that the Blues' problem was that they had only seven-tenths of the law, not nine. Whatever it was they had luxurious ball and territory possession -and they lost by one point.

That is remarkable for such a skilled and creative side, one that you would expect to win on 30 percent of the ball, which is what the Cheetahs had.

That meant that the Cheetahs had to tackle far more often, and by and large they did. They had to make the most of scraps, which by an large they did, so that each side ended having scored three tries.

The Cheetahs were not perfect. They looked brittle on defence at times while the Blues were forceful in the tackle and in contesting tackled ball. The Cheetahs were less secure at the line-out than the Blues were and the Blues had 16 line-outs to their 10 - much more possession there, but the Cheetahs had lots of brave men  to contain their more physical opponents. The home side deserve loud plaudits.

It was a fascinating game, as two statistically uneven sides met and the match was decided with just a minute to go. It was thrilling.

Jerome Kaino led his side out, as well he might - a noble warrior playing his 100th match for the Blues and playing with great nobility.

The Blues wore white the Cheetahs had a splash of orange, for once the Free State was the Orange Free State. It was the Blues' third match of the 2015 Super Rugby season, the Cheetahs' second. the Blues had two defeats behind them, the Cheetahs a startling win over the Sharks in Durban.

Ihaia West kicked off for the Blues and they settled down to a gorge of possession and lots of attacking. They were well on top and Kaino seemed to be about to score when Francois Venter cut him down. The Cheetahs repelled a maul and won a turnover as the Blues enjoyed wind assistance.. But the Cheetahs got into their territory and when the Blues were moved on 10 metres at a penalty Joe Pietersen missed a  kick from in front but he made up for it later in the match with the best kick of the match.

Oupa Mohoje won a Blues throw into a line-out on the left  and the Cheetahs attacked. They went wide right where some magic handling by Willie le Roux sent a perfect pass to Cornal Hendricks  who threw a convincing dummy and cut inside to go through untouched to score. 7-0 after 19 minutes.

The lead did not last long. The Cheetahs were penalised for collapsing the maul. The Blues kicked out and mauled again. The Cheetahs were earnest in their attempts to repel the invader but the Blues broke off to the left and Luke Braid scored a try that West converted. 7-all after 24 minutes.

The Blues attacked again but when they dropped the ball Mohoje kicked it far downfield and Raymond Rhule had just to gather the ball to score but knocked on in his haste.

A penalty gave the Cheetahs a five-metre line-out. They mauled and the referee played advantage in their favour. Then came Pietersen's moment of genius. He kicked a perfect diagonal kick from far left to far right where Willie le Roux rose up and patted the ball down to  Hendricks as desperate defenders gathered. Hendricks gave to Venter. Venter gave to Le Roux who was just in from touch. Le Roux gave a perfect pass inside to Hendricks who forced his way past Brendan O'Connor and Tevita Li to score. 12-7 to the Cheetahs after 32 minutes.

The Blues looked to be about to score when Kaino broke strongly and gave to strong Melani Nanai on the right wing but Rhule back-tackled him brilliantly. But the Blues were on the attack and massive Patrick Tuipulotu handed off a high attempt at a tackle by Mohoje and thundered down the field before passive to bearded Charlie Faumuina who took the pass one-handed to go over to score. 14-12 to the Blues after 37 minutes.

They nearly got another when West took a short pass from Faumuina and raced 45 metres downfield to go over, but the referee consulted the TMO who confirmed that Faumuina's pass was forward.

Half-time came with the score 14-12 for the Aucklanders.

The Blues started the second half on the attack, using the simplest of skills - running straight and passing to the player next to you. They should have scored but Luke Braid lost the ball forward right at the line. Instead it was the Cheetahs who scored first in the half.

West kicked long down into the Cheetahs' half where Le Roux came running back. He chipped and beat Jimmy Cowan to the bouncing ball, knocking it to Sarel Pretorius who sped 40 metres on a swerving run, beating four bamboozled Blues players to score. 19-14 to the Cheetahs.

Astonishingly West missed a penalty kick at goal, his only miss in three matches.

The Blues got the lead back when replacement scrumhalf Jamison Gibson-Park darted through on a sharp break on the left. After many passes the Blues were on the right where Lolagi Visinia gave a pass to centurion Kaino who scored in the corner. West converted. 21-19 after 63 minutes.

Five minutes later the Cheetahs had the lead back when huge Ofa Tu'ungafasi was penalised at a collapsed maul and Pietersen goaled. 22-21 to the Cheetahs.

Then it was the Blues' turn. Francois Uys was penalised for being offside and West goaled. 24-22 with 7 minutes to play. The tension was at breaking point.

The Cheetahs lost a line-out and the Blues were back on the attack but a penalty gave the Cheetahs a line-out in Blues' territory. The Blues, for the second time in the match, stood off as the Cheetahs invited them to maul but this time the Cheetahs kept the ball with the catcher Mohoje at the front of the maul-like formation and the Blues were penalised for backing away from the line-out.

Pietersen goaled. 25-24 with just under a minute to play.

The Blues kicked a shallow kick-off and won the ball for Gibson-Park but the Cheetahs held put for a tense victory as West went for a drop goal and missed.

Man of the Match: Patrick Tuipulotu was immense and Jerome Kaino clearly a man of great stature. On the Cheetahs' side there was the intensity of Coenie Oosthuizen around the field and his strength in the scrums that helped the Cheetahs to three penalties  at scrum time. But our Man of the Match acknowledges the brilliance of Willie le Roux and the variety  of his skilful contribution. He had a creative hand in each of his side's tries.

The scorers:

For the Cheetahs:

Tries: Hendricks 2, Pretorius

Cons: Pietersen 2

Pens: Pietersen 2

For the Blues:

Tries: Braid, Faumuina, Kaino

Cons: West 3

Pen: West

Teams:

Cheetahs: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Joe Petersen, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Willie Britz, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Jean Cook, 5 Francois Uys (captain), 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Danie Mienie.

Replacements: 16 Stephan Coetzee, 17 Burrie Uys, 18 Nicolaas van Dyk, 19 Tienie Burger, 20 Johannes Prinsloo, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Willie du Plessis, 23 Johann Sadie.

Blues: 15 Lolagi Visinia, 14 Melani Nanai, 13 Charles Piutau, 12 Hamish Northcott, 11 Tevita Li, 10 Ihaia West, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Brendon O'Connor, 6 Luke Braid, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Josh Bekhuis, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 James Parsons, 1 Tony Woodcock.

Replacements: 16 Matt Moulds, 17 Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 18 Sam Pratley, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Akira Ioane, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Simon Hickey, 23 Francis Saili.

Referee: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)

Assistant referees: Andrew Lees (Australia), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)

TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)