A well worked try from left wing Cohen Jasper five minutes from time thwarted a Hollywoodbets Sharks fightback and clinched a 32-29 win for the Toyota Cheetahs in an exciting and entertaining Investec Challenge Cup game in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
The Sharks had fought back from a 15-7 halftime deficit, which frankly should have been a lot more, to look as though they had taken control of the game in the second half. However, from an attacking position where they nearly scored what would have been their match clinching try as they led 29-25, their discipline let the Sharks down as they conceded the penalty that gave the Cheetahs their exit out of their own half and into Sharks territory.
The Sharks had belied some of the theories about altitude by looking the fresher team in the second half, but suddenly it was the Cheetahs who had momentum again and when Jasper, who along with the other Cheetahs wing Daniel Kasende and fullback Tapiwa Mafura had an impressive game, wrong footed Werner Kok the hosts were back in the lead.
Ruan Pienaar’s conversion made the difference three points and the Cheetahs were able to pin the Sharks the wrong side of the halfway line for the rest of the game as they claimed a famous victory and one which they believe will advance what they feel is their right to be playing in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
Certainly the Sharks did well to just still be in the game in a first half completely dominated by the Cheetahs, who were on top in the collisions, in the territory and the possession stakes, as well as solid in the scrums. As for the Sharks lineout, that was a disaster in the first half, with no less than four of the first five Sharks lineouts going against the throw.
For a long time it looked as though the Cheetahs were doing everything but score, with their impressive flanker Friedle Olivier excelling on both attack and defence and carrying the ball enough times in the first half an hour to rival the touches of the scrumhalf Pienaar, who of course you’d expect to handle the ball the most.
It was hooker Marnus van der Merwe who got the Cheetahs their first try after 17 minutes as he drove over from close range, and then the Sharks managed to execute a rare good lineout in the red zone and it resulted in Eben Etzebeth crashing over for a try, something that is starting to become a habit for him in Sharks colours.
CHEETAHS COULD HAVE LED BY MORE
Seven minutes later though the Cheetahs were back in front after a quick tap from Pienaar put in the Cheetahs’ other flanker, Gideon van der Merwe. Pienaar wasn’t able to convert but he was on target with a penalty on the stroke of halftime, not long after the Cheetahs had only just been denied what might have been the try of the season as they attacked impressively from a scrum near the halfway. Kasende was well tackled by former Cheetahs centre Francois Venter and in the process his foot made the slightest contact with the line but enough to overrule the try that was rounded off by Pienaar.
Talking of tries of the season, and of Venter, it was the former Cheetahs captain who rounded off a great attack from transition play that started deep inside the Sharks’ own half, with Kok using his old Sevens skills to effect the turnover, and featured Makazole Mapimpi thundering down the left touchline after being offered the space by some slick passing. Mapimpi passed inside for Venter to score.
It was really all the Sharks in the second half up until the final few minutes, and for a long time it looked like Cheetahs coach Hawie Fourie was going to see his pre match quote, where he said his team would go out to run the Sharks off their feet in the intense heat, come back to haunt him. For the third quarter of the game, which the Sharks dominated, it was the Cheetahs who looked like they had run themselves off their own feet.
Pienaar did kick a penalty to stretch the lead back to six points at 18-12, but when scrumhalf Grant Williams executed an impressive little show and go on the Sharks line to weave through for the converted try that put the Sharks in the lead for the first time after 54 minutes of play, it looked like the Sharks had all the momentum.
And it still looked like that even when Daniel Martens chased down a kick ahead to regain the Cheetahs lead, for the Sharks were quickly back on the attack and it resulted in Curwin Bosch putting in Mapimpi with a brilliant kick pass. It seemed only a matter of time that the Sharks would score the clincher after that, but they failed to get it and instead it was the Cheetahs who finished the stronger of the teams and completed their second successive Challenge Cup win.
It was an absorbing and exciting game and the winners certainly have every reason to feel they can go out and enjoy a night of riotous celebration on the streets of Bloemfontein, or at least they would if it wasn’t a Sunday…
SCORES
TOYOTA CHEETAHS 32 - Tries: Marnus van der Merwe, Gideon van der Merwe, Daniel Martens and Cohen Jasper;
Conversions: Ruan Pienaar 3;
Penalties: Ruan Pienaar 2.
HOLLYWOODBETS SHARKS 29 - Tries: Eben Etzebeth, Francois Venter, Grant Williams and Makazole Mapimpi;
Conversions: Curwin Bosch 3;
Penalty: Curwin Bosch.