Cheetahs thump WP in fine fashion

MATCH REPORT: The Cheetahs showed why they are Currie Cup champions when they downed a lacklustre Western Province 37-17 in A rOUND tWO MATCH in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

With this win the Cheetahs moved to the top of the Currie Cup table after two consecutive bonus-point victories.

Western Province could not improve on their second-last spot on the table after only picking up two points in their opening-round defeat to the Bulls.

The Cheetahs had a massive second-half performance as the home side scored five tries and replacement hooker Vernon Paulo grabbed a brace.

Western Province started well when flyhalf Jurie Matthee sent a chip high and Jean-Luc du Plessis chased it and dotted down.

But barely five minutes later Cheetah flyhalf Ethan Wentzel sent a copycat kick overhead and the speeding Daniel Kasende managed to collect and score.

This levelled the score but the rest of the first half saw penalty kicks being traded and the teams were 10-10 at half-time.

Although Western Province was dominant in the scrums and had a numerical advantage after the Cheetahs’ Gideon van der Merwe saw yellow, they could not turn it into points.

The Cheetahs went into over gear in the second half and scored 17 unanswered points with two more tries.

The bulldozing Rudolph also had a hand in Munier Hartzenberg’s try after a great run down the middle.

This deflated the visitors and while Western Province coach John Dobson made some changes, they struggled to get a stronghold on the game.

A late try by the visitor’s CJ Velleman reduced the gap to 10 points, but it seemed too little too late.

Then it was the turn of that man Paulo, scoring two tries in a few minutes and the game was in the bag for the men from Bloemfontein.

Scorers:

For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Vernon Paulo 2, Daniel Kasende, Munier Hartzenberg, Juandre Rudolph
Cons: Ethan Wentzel 3
Pens: Wentzel 2

For Western Province:
Tries: Jean-Luc du Plessis, CJ Velleman
Cons: Jurie Matthee 2
Pen: Matthee

Teams

Cheetahs: 15 Litha Nkula, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Munier Hartzenberg, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Daniel Kasende, 10. Ethan Wentzel, 9 Rewan Kruger, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Aidon Davis, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (captain), 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Aranos Coetzee, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 1 Schalk Ferreira
Replacements: 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Oupa Mohoje, 21 Neels Volschenk, 22 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 23 Reinhardt Fortuin

Western Province: 15 Luke Burger, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Willie Engelbrecht (captain), 7 Hendre Stassen, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 Andre-Hugo Venter, 20 CJ Velleman, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Labib Kannemeyer, 23 Damian Markus.

Referee: Ruhan Meiring
TMO: Archie Sehlako