AUDIO: Coach assures Cheetahs still on track
AUDIO: After five rounds of the Currie Cup the Cheetahs are still on track to defend their title despite a draw this week and a major scare last week.
The Cheetahs kept their competition hopes alive with the 34-all draw against the Bulls in Bloemfontein on Friday evening, and their coach Izak van der Westhuizen felt his side made a huge step up from last week.
The unbeaten Bulls took away three log points that kept the Cheetahs at bay in second place in the standings.
Last week against the Griffons in Welkom complacency was rife as the Cheetahs led 33-0 after 35 minutes before but allowed the home side back into the game with some quick tries before and after half-time.
The Griffons ran the Cheetahs ragged in the second half and the visitors knew they were lucky to walk away with the five points.
Van der Westhuizen said after a difficult week, the character of his side in the fight back against the Bulls was encouraging.
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“Obviously, a draw is never nice but I think the character the guys showed to fight back and come very close to winning the game was very encouraging.
“Some of the things we want to do are starting to come through,” he said after the match.
Captain Victor Sekekete was asked what the half-time message to the players was.
“The message was we need to use our opportunities. We were creating opportunities but we just didn’t get points for it,” the captain said.
“My message was simple, what we wanted to do was working, but tries that they scored came off how we wanted to do things, so I didn’t fault what we were doing.
“Our plan was still working, we were still under pressure in their half of the field.
“If we had scored, I think the score would’ve been very colorful.
“But the plan was there. Sometimes it doesn’t work as quickly as you want it to,” the captain responded.
Van der Westhuizen added that the Cheetahs showed a bit of the kind of game they want to play this season.
“We want to be the Cheetahs that can play to both sides. A team that can be aggressive in defence but still play unbelievable rugby with ball in hand.
“That is what we are working towards. Tonight one could see that starting to come through.
“Last week was difficult. We quickly realised what we needed to change and this week looked very different.
“The space is always there if you start attacking from deeper because they have to cover the backfield as well.
“We’ve got a mindset of playing and I think that came through for us.”
