The Toyota Cheetahs scored nine tries yet were left needing all nine of their cat lives to hang on against the Vodacom Bulls XV at Loftus Versfeld, running out 62-52 (halftime 47-17) winners in a confounding fifth-round Carling Currie Cup match in Pretoria on Sunday.
What is there to say about a match that produced eight tries in the first half-hour, 114 points in all and yet was ultimately decided by the increasingly rare sight of a penalty kick?
The Cheetahs clearly came to Loftus to make a statement and for an hour that is exactly what they did. But Frans Steyn’s charges forgot that the game, especially at altitude, is an eighty-minute affair, and the sight of replacement Tiaan Swanepoel kicking a 55-metre goal after the hooter to make sure of victory was a bizarre end to a match that saw Fortress Loftus’s trylines breached on 17 occasions.
The visitors’ win saw them leapfrog the Sanlam Boland Cavaliers and Airlink Pumas – both of whom had recorded wins of their own on an unusually high-scoring weekend – to second on the log behind defending champions the Suzuki Griquas with two rounds remaining.
In a free-wheeling match that more closely resembled basketball than rugby, the opening half-hour alone produced eight tries and 50 points – much to the delight of the couple of thousand fans who turned out on a sunny Highveld afternoon in the nation’s capital. Make of this match what you want, but the fans well and truly got their money’s worth.
Defence, it must be said, was largely optional for most of this affair and by the time referee Jonathan Lottering had breathlessly blown for halftime, he had already awarded 10 tries – seven of them to the rampaging Cheetahs. It was an afternoon where even the scoreboard operators would have considered having to charge for overtime.
The visitors had already nabbed their try-scoring bonus point within 24 minutes, courtesy of a brace to right wing Michael Annies and one apiece to centre Zander du Plessis and left wing Prince Nkabinde, who would also nab a second before the break.
Cheetahs fullback Cohen Jasper was a constant presence and menace, and his try on the first-half hooter was just reward for an industrious afternoon, which included a deft inside pass to his No 8, Neels Volschenk, who galloped underneath the posts.
For the Bulls, conceding almost a half-century of points before being able to head back to the sheds told you everything you needed to know about their commitment to the defensive cause, something that would have given coach Phiwe Nomlomo a headache of note.
Nomlomo’s charges however never gave up, and gave as good as they got in the final quarter, to go with first-half touchdowns to right wing Riyaad Bam, hooker Siphosethu Mnebelele and flanker Kebotile Maake – but make no mistake: this was one-way traffic for the Cheetahs, who dominated every aspect of the game… until they didn’t.
The second half initially continued in precisely the same vein as the first, Jasper snatching his second after 48 minutes to bring up the half-century, before yeoman skipper Victor Sekekete got himself in on the try-scoring action four minutes later.
The Bulls then turned on the magic to score a bagful of tries of their own, to replacements Marnus Rademeyer (twice), Brooklyn Newman and Nizaam Carr, while things almost unravelled completely for the Cheetahs when substitute hooker Markus Janse van Rensburg was yellow-carded – later upgraded to a 20-minute red – for a dangerous tackle that on another day might have easily have earned a straight sending-off.
The home side’s never-say-die attacking attitude must be applauded, but it is defence that wins matches and in this department they fell way short of expectations for too long.
With two rounds remaining of the world’s oldest provincial rugby competition, it is only the Bulls, still winless despite their late entertainment value, who find themselves out of play-off contention.
Seven does not go into four, however, and any slip-up over the coming fortnight by any of the Fidelity ADT Lions (currently fifth), DHL Stormers XXIII (sixth) or Hollywoodbets Sharks XV (seventh) will see their play-off hopes go up in smoke.
It promises to be an intriguing run-in for the title contenders, too, with champs Griquas having to negotiate two tricky away matches, to the Pumas and Cavaliers, while the men from Nelspruit, in contrast, won’t have to leave Mpumalanga until at least the semifinals, should they qualify, where they host the men from Kimberley and the high-octane Cheetahs.
The Sharks XV may be lying seventh, but they too have two home matches – against the Lions and Bulls – from which to launch a late play-off charge, while the Stormers XXIII will have it all to do on the road, with their semifinal fate to be decided in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
SCORERS:
VODACOM BULLS XV 52 – Tries: Riyaad Bam, Siphosethu Mnebelele, Kebotile Maake, Marnus Rademeyer (2), Brooklyn Newman, Nizaam Carr, Devon Williams; Conversions: Keagan Johannes (5), Newman.
TOYOTA CHEETAHS 62 – Tries: Michael Annies (2), Zander du Plessis, Prince Nkabinde (2), Neels Volschenk, Cohen Jasper (2), Victor Sekekete; Conversions: Jaco van der Walt (7); Penalty: Tiaan Swanepoel.