Bloemfontein - Right wing Sergeal Petersen scored a hat trick as the Free State Cheetahs thrashed the Golden Lions 55-17 in Saturday's Currie Cup semi-final.
The Cheetahs confirmed their tag as favourites to win the 2016 title after blowing the Lions away in just 35 minutes at the Free State Stadium.
Franco Smith's Cheetahs scored 26 unanswered points during that period to virtually end the match as a contest, with the Lions unable to respond to a tremendous opening onslaught by the home team to secure a home final next Saturday at the Free State Stadium.
They will face the Blue Bulls in the title decider after the Pretoria team edged out Western Province 36-30 in the second semi-final at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Cheetahs ran in six tries, while flyhalf Niel Marais slotted eight out of eight kicks at goal for a 21-point haul to totally overwhelm the defending champions.
From the start, the home team played with much greater conviction and purpose, with the pack of forwards especially dominating the collisions, even though the Lions were on top in the scrums.
Following two early Marais penalties, the match was burst open when Cheetahs captain Francois Venter threw a superb long pass out wide to flank Uzair Cassiem, who drew the last Lions defender before popping a brilliant pass to a flying Petersen to score the first try.
The Lions battled to get into the game, with a number of handling errors affecting their momentum, while flyhalf Jaco van der Walt couldn't get his backline going either.
Flank Cyle Brink's yellow card didn't help the visitors either, and Petersen inflicted further misery when he chased after lock Reniel Hugo's hack ahead and won the race to the ball to score his second of the afternoon as the rain and hail started pelting down.
At 26-0 down at half-time, there was little chance of the Lions getting back into the game, and immediately from the kick-off, poor defence from the Lions saw Petersen breaking upfield, and No 8 Niell Jordaan picked the ball up from a ruck and burst down the right flank to score his team's third try.
Johan Ackermann's team got an opportunity to get on the board after Rayno Benjamin was yellow-carded, with replacement Sylvian Mahuza rounding off smartly in the left corner.
A second yellow card to Cheetahs flank Paul Hoffmann in the final quarter saw Mahuza capitalising again, but Smith's charges found their rhythm once more in the closing stages to play some wonderful attacking rugby.
Benjamin made up for his yellow card with a try, and fullback Clayton Blommetjies finishing things off with aplomb.
On the evidence of this performance, the Cheetahs will be hard to beat in next week's final.
Scorers: Free State Cheetahs – Tries: Sergeal Petersen (3), Niell Jordaan, Rayno Benjamin, Clayton Blommetjies. Conversions: Niel Marais (3), Fred Zeilinga (2). Penalties: Niel Marais (5).
Golden Lions – Tries: Sylvian Mahuza (2), Ruaan Lerm. Conversion: Andries Coetzee (1). - ANA