Cheetahs romp to victory
Sergeal Petersen ran in a brace of tries as the Free State Cheetahs romped to victory.
Right wing Petersen’s two tries helped the Cheetahs on their way to a bonus-point win.
They ran in five tries in total, with the Griquas only able to respond with three tries of their own – right wing Ruhan Nel dotting down twice.
The win saw the Cheetahs leapfrog the Sharks and the Pumas to move into fourth place on the log and keep their semifinal chances alive.
Griquas remain rooted to the bottom of the table after just one win from their seven matches.
The Cheetahs made a fast start to the game and they breached the Griquas’ defence as early as the fourth minute when left wing Raymond Rhule slid over for a try – flyhalf Fred Zeilinga had no problem in converting.
But Griquas struck back just four minutes later when Nel skated over for a converted try of his own.
The hosts edged back into the lead once again after 16 minutes, when Petersen crashed over for another converted try to put the Cheetahs into a 14-7 lead.
Petersen was enjoying a fine half and he added to his try-tally when he went over for his second converted try, just nine minutes later.
The home team started to take control of proceedings.
The Griquas narrowed the deficit when inside centre Clinton Swart slotted a penalty with four minutes left in the half.
Free State flyhalf Fred Zeilinga kicked a penalty of his own as the home team went to the break holding a 24-10 lead.
Zeilinga kicked his second penalty, eight minutes after the restart.
The hosts wrapped up the bonus point for scoring four tries when scrumhalf Shaun Venter sniped over for a converted score after 51 minutes.
The visitors were not completely out of the contest yet when Nel went over for his second try.
They narrowed the gap to 17 points with a quarter of the match to play.
They were right back in the contest when scrumhalf Tian Myer nipped over for a converted try with 15 minutes left to play.
Zeilinga nailed his third penalty, with two minutes left in the match, to seal the victory and deny Griquas even the consolation of a losing bonus point.
Replacement Zee Mkhabela then went over for a converted try in the dying seconds of the game as the Cheetahs ended with a flourish.
Man of the match: Ruan Nel played out of his skin as he kept Griquas in contention. Fred Zeilinga was the outstanding Cheetahs player as he kept his team out of reach with his efficient boot. However Sergeal Petersen's two tries set up the victory and created a platform for Zeilinga to dictate the match.
Scorers:
For Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Rhule, Petersen 2 , Venter, Mkhabela
Cons: Zeilinga 5
Pens: Zeilinga 3
For Griquas:
Tries: Nel 2, Meyer
Cons: Swart 3
Pen: Swart
Teams:
Free State Cheetahs:15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Rayno Benjamin, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Henco Venter, 6 Gerhard Olivier, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Burry Uys.
Replacements: 16 Teunis Nieuwoudt, 17 Neil Rautenbach, 18 Reniel Hugo, 19 Freddy Ngoza, 20 Zee Mkhabela, 21 Tertius Kruger, 22 Sias Ebersohn.
Griquas: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Ruhan Nel, 13 Jonathan Francke, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Jacquin Jansen, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Carel Greeff, 7 Jonathan Adendorf, 6 RJ Liebenberg, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Jaco Nepgen, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Abraham le Roux, 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Danie Mienie, 18 Jonathan Janse van Rensburg, 19 Wendal Wehr, 20 Dylon Frylink, 21 Gouws Prinsloo, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa.
Referee: AJ Jacobs
Assistant referees: Jason Jaftha, Stephan Geldenhuys
