Force punish sloppy Cheetahs
The Force made the most of their opportunities to secure a 23-16 victory over a sloppy Cheetahs side in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
It was the Perth side's seventh win this season and sees them move up to the lofty heights of fourth place, whilst the Cheetahs took just the single bonus point from an error-strewn display which saw them waste far too many opportunities.
The visitors got on the front foot early on by forcing the Cheetahs back into their 22 and some good pressure on the ground from Angus Cottrell saw Sias Ebersohn open the scoring with an easy penalty from in front of the poles.
The Cheetahs responded by shifting the ball wide from a quick line-out and Willie le Roux put Rayno Benjamin through a gap, but the Force defence scrambled well after Teboho Mohoje had gone close in the corner.
Force loosehead Pek Cowan hit the ground in the first scrum, but Johan Goosen pulled the resulting shot at goal wide, although he made no such mistake with his second attempt after an extended Cheetahs attack ended in a breakdown infringement from the Force.
The Force showed some attacking skills of their own when Kyle Godwin crossed the whitewash after a slick counter-attack up the left, but the TMO disallowed the try due to accidental offside.
However, they did not have to wait long before they had the lead back as Ebersohn knocked over a second penalty after they had been held up over the tryline.
The first try came soon afterwards, and it was another counter-attack as Hodgson claimed the ball at the base of a ruck and found plenty of support with a few great offloads resulting in Jayden Hayward getting over in the corner, with Ebersohn's conversion taking their lead out to 13-3.
The Cheetahs were straight back on the attack from the restart, but they could not find a way through and the teams exchanged penalties just before the break as the Force took a 16-6 lead into half-time.
The Cheetahs made a determined start to the second half and Force captain Hodgson was eventually shown a yellow card for a cynical infringement after they had bashed at the tryline for a while, and it was Johannes 'Boom' Prinsloo who finally grounded it for the try.
The teams traded kicks as they looked for territory, and it was eventually the Cheetahs who carried it up but an intercept saw the Force counter once again and it was Nick Cummins who got over to restore their 10 point lead.
The Cheetahs hit back with another penalty from Goosen and then launched a sustained attack as they looked to level the scores up, but the Force defence came out on top again as they held on under immense pressure for the win.
Man of the match: The Cheetahs loose trio was impressive at times but our award goes to Force flank Angus Cottrell who was abrasive at the breakdown and tireless on defence.
The scorers:
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Prinsloo
Con: Goosen
Pens: Goosen 3
For the Force:
Tries: Hayward, Cummins
Cons: Ebersohn 2
Pens: Ebersohn 3
Yellow card: Matt Hodgson (Force, 45 mins – Professional foul)
Teams:
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Rayno Benjamin, 11 Willie le Roux, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Sarel Pretorius 8 Johannes Prinsloo, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Waltie Vermeulen, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Caylib Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Nicolaas van Dyk, 19 Carel Greeff, 20 Willem Serfontein, 21 Shaun Venter, 22 Elgar Watts, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
Western Force: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Nick Cummins, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Ian Prior, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Matt Hodgson (captain), 6 Angus Cottrell, 5 Sam Wykes, 4 Adam Coleman, 3 Kieran Longbottom, 2 Nathan Charles, 1 Pek Cowan.
Replacements: 16 Heath Tessmann, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 20 Brynard Stander, 21 Justin Turner, 22 Zack Holmes, 23 Chris Tuatara-Morrison.
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker (South Africa), Francois de Bruin (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
