Bayonne edge Cheetahs in France after dramatic second-half battle

MATCH REPORT: The Cheetahs produced a spirited fightback against Bayonne, scoring two second half tries to take the lead before the French hosts snatched a narrow 29-27 victory in their Challenge Cup clash. Despite a brave effort from the Bloemfontein side, Bayonne’s late response proved decisive in a thrilling encounter.

The Cheetahs opened their account early after Carl Els turned over possession and Tiaan Swanepoel converted the penalty kick.

The visitors extended their lead to 10-0 when Michael Annies finished off a well-worked, multi-phase attack in the corner.

Bayonne came steaming for the corner after a loose pass by the visitors brought them into the 22. However, the Cheetahs did well to bundle the player into touch and get the throw-in close to their line.

Their relentless effort was rewarded as they managed to maul over they tryline and score their first try of the game.

Rob du Preez couldn’t split the uprights, and the hosts trailed 5-10 after 15 minutes.

Moments later, the Cheetahs were scrambling again after Bayonne wing Madosh Tambwe sent through a grubber and followed up at speed.

Henry Immelman failed to secure the ball, but Tambwe lost it in his haste to dot it down.

Tambwe was rewarded for his hard work when he won a ball in the air, recycled it, and centre Federico Mori had a straight run to the tryline.

The Cheetahs were awarded a penalty right in front of the sticks, and they opted for the field goal.

Tiaan Swanepoel raised the flags, and the Cheetahs edged ahead.

Bayonne fought back, made a lineout steal, and got to work getting the ball flowing through the hands for Yohan Orabe to make a dash and score in the corner.

After the conversion, the hosts were ahead again.

They added a second maul try just before halftime to extend their lead to 22-13, although Du Preez missed the conversion.

The Cheetahs finished the half on the attack inside the 22, but handling errors and slow reactions undermined their efforts.
The second half began with an unforced error from the Cheetahs, who failed to field the kick-off before clearing directly into touch from outside their 22, allowing Bayonne to restart in a dangerous position.

The Cheetahs then forced a scrum turnover and won a penalty at the set-piece, recovering well to push play back towards halfway.

The Cheetahs created their own luck, sending up a high ball before pouncing on the loose possession and kicking into space for Carel-Jan Coetzee to dive on the ball and score.

They followed this up with a 55:22 and opened up another try-scoring opportunity. The Cheetahs lost the ball but were brought back for a penalty against the home side.

Their rolling maul was set, another penalty was conceded and the scrum was reset. Swanepoel kicked for the corner, backing their rolling maul to do the job.

The visitors tried to bully their way over the tryline as they inched closer. Silencing the crowd, Louis van der Westhuizen got up with the ball. Swanepoel split the uprights to take the lead 27-22 as 30 minutes were left on the clock.

Attacking from wide out, it was all Cheetahs momentum. The visitors won a penalty in front of the posts, but Swanepoel missed uncharacteristically.

The Cheetahs won the scrum penalty and Swanepoel had another crack at the field goal but it was another failed attempt to stretch their lead.

The men from Bloemfontein kept up their momentum, forcing Bayonne to stay on the defensive.

The Cheetahs were building momentum, and Bayonne had been warned about their discipline, but the hosts won a turnover before Herchelle Jantjies raced almost the length of the field to score their first points of the second half in his 21st appearance.

Du Preez’s conversion took the home side back into the lead with five tries to three in the bag.

The visitors launched another attack from kick-off as the clock was winding down.

But Bayonne intercepted and couldn’t do much after losing the ball.

From a brilliant scrum, Bayonne asserted their dominance and Du Preez found touch close to the 22; however, from the lineout, it was overthrown, and the Cheetahs pounced.

Time had run out and Bayonne secured a close 29-27 victory.

The scorers:

For Bayonne:
Tries: Bosch 2, Mori, Orabe, Jantjies
Cons: Du Preez 2

For Cheetahs:
Tries: Annies, Coetzee, Van der Westhuizen
Cons: Swanepoel 3
Pens: Swanepoel 2

Teams:

Aviron Bayonnais: 15 Yohan Orabe, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Guillaume Martocq, 12 Federico Mori, 11 Viliame Tutuvuli, 10 Rob du Preez, 9 Baptiste Tilloles, 8 Giovanni Habel-Kuffner (captain), 7 Baptiste Heguy, 6 Mahno Dealle Facquez, 5 Brian Alainu’uese, 4 Manus van Leeuwen, 3 Luke Tagi, 2 Facundo Bosch, 1 Ignacio Calles.
Replacements: 16 Lucas Martin, 17 Swan Cormenier, 18 Lasha Macharashvili, 19 Lucas Paulos, 20 Hugo Leclerq, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Bastien Rasal, 23 Tom Spring.

Cheetahs: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Michael Annies, 13 Carel-Jan Coetzee, 12 Zander Du Plessis, 11 Prince Nkabinde, 10 Tiaan Swanepoel, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Carl Els, 7 Simon Miller, 6 Neels Volschenk, 5 Victor Sekekete, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Frankie Dos Reis, 2 Louis van der Westhuizen, 1 Matome Manyama.
Replacements: 16 Jaundre Schoeman, 17 Tebogo Nkosi, 18 Ben Pitout, 19 Aidon Davis, 20 Siya Ningiza, 21 Erich Visser, 22 Cohen Jasper, 23 Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Referee: Peter Martin
Assistant Referees: Keane Davison, Jack MacNeice
TMO: Leo Colgan