He didn’t score a try but Rosko Specman nonetheless had a big role to play in the Toyota Cheetahs’ hard fought 28-9 wet weather win over the Tafel Lager Griquas that brought the curtain down on 25 years of Vodacom Super Rugby in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking before kick-off to the final 'Unlocked' game, the legendary Naas Botha, working for Supersport, noted that in the earlier Saturday game, also played in wet weather at his former home ground of Loftus in Pretoria, both the Vodacom Bulls and Phakisa Pumas had made the mistake of being too airborne with their kicking game.
“Rather keep the ball on the ground because it will create problems due to the slippery ball and conditions,” said the former Bok flyhalf.
It is unlikely that Specman and his teammates would have been watching television at that point, but nonetheless they quickly acted on the advice. Indeed, Specman did hint at it in his pre-match interview with Joel Stransky.
Within just a few minutes of the start of the game, Tian Meyer grubber kicked the ball through and Specman showed great control with his boot as he kept the ball going forward around the Griquas defenders. Eventually Griquas ran out of defenders and flanker Andise Ntsila dropped on the ball just in front of Specman to complete the try.
In conditions as wet as they were, a try was always going to have a significant impact, and Specman’s control of the ball on the ground was to feature again twice later in the piece. Although it was a great long pass to the short side from Meyer that put Howard Mnisi in for the 48th minute lead that put the Cheetahs back into a lead that they were never to surrender, it was Specman’s footwork, dribbling the ball along the ground, that gave the Cheetahs the field position from which they struck for the try.
And then in the 74th minute Specman’s dribbling was to the fore again, and he came close to scoring it himself as the rolling ball foxed the Griquas defenders in the left corner but it was replacement halfback Ruben de Haas who dropped on the ball to make sure of the try that made sure of the win. And, let it be added, also the important try scoring bonus point that the victors will take with them through into the Carling Lager Currie Cup that begins next week.
Specman’s contribution was important in a game where the wet weather was definitely a leveller. Although the Cheetahs enjoyed the advantage in both territory (66 per cent) and territory in the first half, Griquas produced a good defensive effort and carried the ball well when they did have it. Tinus de Beer missed an important penalty attempt just after halftime, but in the first half he out-kicked his uncharacteristically wayward Cheetahs opposite number Tian Schoeman.
De Beer kicked penalties in the 13th, 23rd and 36th minutes to cancel out solitary success from the tee for Schoeman (15th minute) as the Kimberley team took a 9-8 lead to the break. One of those penalties was a really good one in the conditions, from the angle and long range. De Beer was just short of an attempt from just inside his own half.
The one he missed two minutes into the second half was one of his easiest attempts of the game, and it was an important psychological blow against his team, who then conceded at the other end six minutes later. To be fair, while Griquas tried their best to be competitive and did well to absorb the pressure applied by the Cheetahs’ impressive mauling drives in the third quarter, they never looked likely winners once the Cheetahs retook the lead as De Beer’s boot looked their only likely point scoring mechanism.
No8 Jeandre Rudolph crashed over the Griquas’ line from an attacking lineout on the final whistle to cap his own good game which was marred only by some rather loose discipline that conceded two first half breakdown penalties. The end margin of 19 points didn’t look likely earlier but in the end it just about summed up the dominance of the Cheetahs on the day.
SCORES
TOYOTA CHEETAHS 28 - Tries: Andisa Ntsila, Howard Mnisi, Ruben de Haas and Jeandre Rudolph; Conversion: Reinhardt Fortuin; Penalties: Tian Schoeman 2.
TAFEL LAGER GRIQUAS 9 - Penalties: Tinus de Beer 3.