Cheetahs claw Sunwolves to shreds
A farce in two halves! This match was a competition for all of six minutes. But it went on for another 74 minutes. The teams were not matched at all.
Of course there was fun, as in Francois Venter's intercept and try, but it was rather like eating condensed milk when you were a child. The first teaspoon was a delight but eventually it became cloying and you gave up.
But then this was not the worst. The match between the Crusaders and the Waratahs in 2002 was, incredibly, worse, for the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 96-19 after leading 63-0 at half-time. And – this is really odd – the Waratahs were second on the log at the time and went on to the semifinal where the Brumbies knocked them out.
It seems it is true that there's nothing so bad that couldn't be worse.
One thing is certain, the Sunwolves will not play in the semifinal. They may find the long flight home an agony of humiliation and then they have to regather to face the Jaguares off Argentina who must be licking their lips in anticipation of a rare victory.
Even if you were a Cheetah supporter there would have been a touch of sadness in this one-sided affair. 45-3 at half-time. 47-14 in the second half.
The Sunwolves actually scored first in this match – a penalty goal by Tusi Pisi when Torsten van Jaarsveld was penalised at a tackle.
In that half there were only five penalties – two against the Cheetahs at tackles and three against the Sunwolves at scrums. Of seven penalties against the Sunwolves in the match, four were at the scrum, for they could not match the Cheetahs in the scrums, winning their three scrums in the match by way of severely crooked feeds that got the ball out rapidly.
They did not fare much better in the line-outs. Of their three throw-ins in the first half, one was skew and two were lost.
They were just not able to compete.
The first try came from a penalty at a scrum that produced a five-metre line-out that produced a maul that produced a try to Van Jaarsveld. 7-3 after 6 minutes, and the Cheetahs kept ahead of the clock to game's end.
The second came when Tusi Pisi, who looked bored throughout, passed towards Mifiposeti Paea, who may just have been the worst defender on the field. Francois Venter intercepted and ran 55 metres to score. 14-3 after 9 minutes.
Pisi tried to grubber ahead but Nico Lee was in the way. The centre picked up the ricochet and ran. He was tackled but the ball was recycled quickly and Uzair Cassiem gave a rudimentary dummy and brushed past two uninterested defenders to score. 21-3 after 15 minutes.
Pisi kicked off and it went out on the full. From the scrum the Cheetahs scored when Francois Venter played inside to Raymond Rhule who scored. 28-3 after 18 minutes.
The Cheetahs ran the kick-off from their own line. Rhule had an overlap and kicked ahead. The Sunwolves conceded a line-out on the Cheetahs' left. They went wide right where Sergeal Petersen got past Paea, chipped ahead into in-goal and easily won the race to the bouncing ball to score. 33-3 after 32 minutes.
A scrum penalty produced a line-out which the Cheetahs mauled. But on the Sunwolves 22, Van Jaarsveld broke away and gave to Sean Venter who beat Paea and scored in the corner. 38-3 after 26 minutes.
When the scoring resumed it was with the most spectacular try of the match. Inside the Cheetahs' 22 they won a Sunwolves' line-out and Venter kicked a high kick which Petersen chased. Paea waited for the ball but Petersen snatched it ahead of him and ran round to score at the posts. 45-3 after 33 minutes. That was the half-time score.
At half-time Franco Smith stressed the Cheetahs' need to keep playing with control.
That started early in the second half when they attacked with backs and forwards mingling and handling till fullback Clayton Blommetjies gave to flank Cassiem who gave to wing Petersen who gave to flank Hilton Lobberts who was unmarked and scored. 52-3 after 43 minutes.
The Cheetahs attacked and Sean Venter tapped a penalty five metres from the Sunwolves line and gave to Blommetjies. Seven Sunwolves gathered around Blommetjies to watch him score. 59-3 after 45 minutes.
Then the Cheetahs became careless, their handling was poor and they were penalised three with tries as a result.
The first came when the Cheetahs were penalised at a tackle. Pisi tapped and gave to Derek Carpenter and the tall centre was over under the posts. 59-10 after 47 minutes.
Two penalties got the Sunwolves to within five metres of the Cheetahs' line. They went left and Pisi threw a long pass to Paea who scored in the corner. 59-17 after 59 minutes.
The Cheetahs then got back on track and scored 37 points in the last 20 minutes.
Under pressure the Sunwolves passed along their line. A pass went astray and Schoeman picked up the ball, spun and fell for a try. 66-17 after 65 minutes.
This had happened before – a scrum penalty, a five-metre line-out, a maul and a try credited to the hooker though this time the hooker was Jacques du Toit. 71-17 after 71 minutes.
From a deep kick-off the Cheetahs started running. The Sunwolves came back on the attack and Petersen scored when, 10 metres from his own line, he chipped. He got the bouncing ball on the Sunwolves' 10-metre line and scored. Fred Zeilinga converted. 78-17 after 75 minutes.
Again from the kick-off the Cheetahs ran, the Sunwolves got the ball and attacked and Petersen scored – or he could have after sweeping down the left wing and round to the posts where, because it was not really a competitive match, he put the ball into Schoeman's hands and the No.8 scored his second try of the match. 85-17 after 78 minutes.
The Sunwolves kicked off and the Cheetahs started passing the ball amongst themselves. After 10 passes Petersen broke and gave to his chum Schoeman who ran about 30 metres on a diagonal to score at the posts. 92-17 and the final whistle went.
Man of the Match: Most obviously there were Paul Schoeman, Sergeal Petersen, Francois Uys and the two Venters Sean and Francois. Our choice is the captain Francois Venter who more than anybody respected the game, defending with certainty and attacking with skill.
Scorers:
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Van Jaarsveld, F Venter, Cassiem, Rhule, Petersen 3, S Venter, Lobberts, Blommetjies, Schoeman 3, Du Toit
Cons: Marais 8, Zeilinga 3
For the Sunwolves:
Tries: Carpenter, Paea
Cons: Pisi 2
Pen: Pisi
Teams:
Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Nico Lee, 12 Francois Venter (captain), 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Neil Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Hilton Lobberts, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Nicolaas van Dyk, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Charles Marais.
Replacements: 16 Jacques du Toit, 17 Danie Mienie, 18 Johan Coetzee, 19 Carl Wegner, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Teboho Mohoje, 22 Tian Meyer, 23 Fred Zeilinga.
Sunwolves: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Viliami Lolohea, 13 Harumichi Tatekawa 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Mifiposeti Paea, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Yuki Yatomi, 8 Ed Quirk, 7 Andrew Durutalo, 6 Tomás Leonardi, 5 Liaki Moli, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Takuma Asahara, 2 Shota Horie (captain), 1 Masataka Mikami.
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Ziun Gu, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Faatiga Lemalu, 20 Yoshiya Hosoda, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Yu Tamura, 23 Yasutaka Sasakura.
Referee: Nic Berry
Assistant referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Television match official: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
