The Toyota Cheetahs hung on to beat the Fidelity ADT Lions 29-27 (halftime 16-13) in a highly entertaining first-round Carling Currie Cup Premier Division match at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
In an eight-try cat-fight thriller in which the lead changed multiple times, it was the home side who prevailed despite a hat-trick of tries to debutant Lions centre Likhona Finca.
In the end, however, the calming presence of veteran Springbok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and an agonising last-gasp tryline knock-on by Lions wing Rabz Maxwane was enough to get the Bloemfonteiners home by a whisker and their tournament campaign off to a winning start.
With Sunday newspapers reporting that the country’s rugby bosses would meet in 10 days’ time to discuss the future of the Currie Cup, this match would have advanced a strong argument that the world’s oldest provincial competition remains an entertaining day out as well as an important part of the Springbok pathway.
On a clear and warm winter’s day in the country’s judicial capital, it was the home side who got the scoreboard operators working, veteran flyhalf Jaco van der Walt slotting a penalty to calm any early-season nerves.
The Lions responded in kind four minutes later, pivot Sam Francis chipping over from inside the Cheetahs’ 22 to make it 3-3 and establish the match’s tit-for-tat scoring theme.
FAF FACTOR
The 32-year-old Van der Walt may be a former Scotland international, but it is fair to say that it was his halfback partner, two-time World Cup-winning scrumhalf De Klerk, that the lively lunchtime crowd had come to see – and the blonde Springbok did not disappoint.
The 34-year-old De Klerk’s first snipe of the day, from a centre-field ruck in the ninth minute, led directly to the Cheetahs’ first try, veteran hooker Marko Janse van Rensburg breaking away from a five-metre driving maul penalty to barge over.
Lions debutant Finca, however, wasted no time showing his pedigree, the 22-year-old diving over near the left-hand touchline after capitalising on poor Cheetahs midfield defence to level the scores once more at 8-8.
The Cheetahs responded in kind when flanker Ramon Uys pilfered a loose lineout ball after his team had won a scrum penalty and kicked to the corner. Van der Walt made it an eight-point game on the stroke of halftime with a second penalty from bang in front, making it 16-8.
LATE TWIST
That buffer proved to be short-lived, however, as the Lions burgled a try after the hooter through fullback Latica Nela. The visitors had launched a number of close-range assaults on the Cheetahs’ line but when they knocked on underneath the posts, the opportunity to close the gap at the break seemed to have been lost.
But instead of the hosts kicking to touch and heading for the changing rooms, it was wing Cohen Jasper who broke upfield in search of what might have been a famous length-of-the-field score. Jasper’s loose inside pass, however, was deftly picked up by Lions lock Dylan Sjoblom, who fed a steaming and unmarked Nela on his outside.
The second half continued the helter-skelter theme of the first, the Lions grabbing the lead for the first time when Finca dived over in the 44th minute for his second, converted by Francis. 20-16.
With an increasingly frantic match calling out for cool heads in the heat of battle, it was De Klerk, with all his test experience, who provided a moment of clarity in the 56th minute with a perfectly weighted kick to the corner from a midfield ruck.
From the resultant five-metre lineout it was Cheetahs skipper Victor Sekekete who somehow burrowed over to restore his team’s one-point lead, which became six when Jasper made up for his earlier inaccuracy with a try after 68 minutes following good work from inside centre Zander du Plessis. 26-20.
Finca, however, wasn’t done with his big day and his hat-trick score with 10 minutes remaining gave the visitors the lead once more at 27-26.
Van der Walt grabbed a third penalty with five minutes remaining to swing the momentum – and the scoreboard for the final time, it turned out – back in the home side’s favour at 29-27.
And so it remained, the Cheetahs kicking off their Carling Currie Cup campaign with a hard-fought victory. Of perhaps greater long-term importance, however, is that, if this see-sawing Sunday afternoon entertainment is anything to go by, the grand dame of South African rugby is not quite ready to go the way of the dodo just yet.
Scorers:
Toyota Cheetahs 29 – Tries: Marko Janse van Rensburg, Ramon Uys, Victor Sekekete, Cohen Jasper; Penalties: Jaco van der Walt (3).
Fidelity ADT Lions 27 – Tries: Likhona Finca (3), Latica Nela; Conversions: Sam Francis (2); Penalty: Francis.