The Toyota Cheetahs booked a home semifinal in the Carling Currie Cup when they beat the Sanlam Boland Kavaliers 33-24 (halftime 7-10) in a penultimate-round match played at Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein, on Sunday afternoon.
Inspired by a man-of-the-match performance from legendary Springbok scrumhalf, Faf de Klerk, the Cheetahs’ full house of five points moves them up to joint top of the table alongside the defending champion Suzuki Griquas, who keep their noses in front on points difference.
The Kavaliers leave Bloemfontein without a single log point to show for their efforts, meaning that they have it all to do on the final weekend against the champions if they are to guarantee a pla-off spot ahead of a fast-closing pack, that sees just four log points separate the third-placed Airlink Pumas from the seventh-placed Hollywoodbets Sharks XV.
The weekend’s results – which saw Griquas thump the Pumas 38-14 in Nelspruit, the DHL Stormers XXIII hammer the winless Vodacom Bulls XV 50-26 in Pretoria and the Sharks XV draw 22-all with the Fidelity ADT Lions in Pietermaritzburg – mean that, mathematically speaking, even the Sharks XV have a chance to reach the semifinals if they close out with a win and other results go their way.
Carling Currie Cup FULL-TIME: Toyota Cheetahs 33 - 24 Sanlam Boland Kavaliers@ToyotaSA @YesPlaySA#LegendaryToughness pic.twitter.com/KqLthWozoZ
— Toyota Cheetahs (@CheetahsRugby) August 23, 2026
The final round kicks off this coming Friday when the Lions host the Stormers XXIII in Johannesburg and the Sharks XV welcome the Bulls XV to Durban. Saturday’s lone match sees the Cheetahs travelling to Mbombela Stadium to take on the Pumas, while Sunday’s clash - the final fixture of the league stages - will see the Kavaliers put it all on the line in front of what is sure to be a capacity crowd in Wellington against the men from Kimberley.
For all the early eagerness and energy expenditure of both sides, the first quarter of this match came and went without the scoreboard operators having to lift a finger on a clear and warm afternoon in the country’s judicial capital.
The deadlock was, however, broken after 22 minutes when 22-year-old Cheetahs hooker Juan Smal found himself at the scoring end of an excellent driving maul from a lineout penalty close to the Kavaliers’ line.
Flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel added the extras to give the hosts a 7-0 lead.
The Bolanders gained a foothold in the match near the half-hour mark when they scored from a five-metre penalty tap, lock John Stopforth using his bulk to round off despite the attentions of two Cheetahs, with flyhalf Ashlon Davids’s touchline conversion bisecting the uprights.
The highly-experienced 33-year-old Davids’s second kick was altogether easier: a penalty from bang in front after the halftime hooter to make it a tense, three-point game.
FOUR YELLOW CARDS
The second half continued the tense script of the opening 40 minutes, until a sniping break from the evergreen De Klerk saw industrious inside centre Zander du Plessis go over for his team’s second score.
Swanepoel’s conversion made it 14-10.
The Kavaliers went a man down approaching the hour mark when flanker Kwanda Dimaza was yellow-carded for a reckless and completely unnecessary head-on-head ruck cleanout on De Klerk.
The 28-year-old Dimaza’s indiscretion was all the invitation the Cheetahs needed to turn the screw and things went from bad to worse for the Kavaliers a couple of minutes later when centre Chris Smit made it a 15 v 13 contest as the match entered its fourth and final quarter.
The numerical disadvantage immediately struck a near-fatal blow to the Kavaliers’ chances: De Klerk went over for his team’s third converted try and Stopforth was sin-binned, thereby briefly reducing his team to just 12 men.
Right wing Michael Annies put a ribbon on it when he dived over in the right-hand corner on 65 minutes for the Cheetahs’ try bonus point, referee Morné Ferreira dishing out his fourth yellow card to the despairing and increasingly frustrated Kavaliers following Annies’s score.
But the Bolanders are nothing if not dogged, and hooker Joshua Eras’s try on 68 minutes somehow kept his side in the hunt.
But Annie’s try-scoring spree wasn’t quite done, and he ran a beautiful line off replacement scrumhalf Rewan Kruger’s ever-so-slightly delayed pass to slice through and score underneath the posts with 10 minutes remaining.
Bentley Geldenhuys gave the Bolanders a ray of hope when he scampered away on 77 minutes but the Cheetahs stood firm to shut out their Winelands opponents and ensure that Toyota Stadium will host at least one Currie Cup knockout match this season.
Scorers:
Toyota Cheetahs 33 – Tries: Juan Smal, Zander du Plessis, Faf de Klerk, Michael Annies (2); Conversions: Tiaan Swanepoel (4).
Sanlam Boland Cavaliers 24 – Tries: John Stopforth, Joshua Eras, Bentley Geldenhuys; Conversions: Ashlon Davids (3); Penalty: Davids.
© Duane Heath (Roots.Rugby™)