Blue Bulls survive Cheetahs onslaught

File Photo: Matthew Jordaan

File Photo: Matthew Jordaan

Published Sep 5, 2015

Share

Pretoria - The Vodacom Blue Bulls weathered a late storm of Toyota Free State Cheetahs attacks to secure a 24-17 Absa Currie Cup victory at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

With the result the Bulls remain unbeaten in the domestic showpiece, and more importantly, the relatively young group of players showed that they are capable of adapting to circumstances.

The Blue Bulls needed to show great character in the end to keep the Cheetahs at bay in the closing exchanges while the men from Bloemfontein will be gutted that they failed to convert the many chances they created.

As expected, both sides were eager to give the ball air but the Cheetahs were superior as far as ball retention was concerned.

The visiting side’s ability to convert good field position into points was, however, less impressive on the night. This was due to a combination of poor decisions, and a wet ball, although Nollis Marais’ charges have to be credited for their outstanding scramble defence.

The Blue Bulls’ first-phase defence looked far more flustered and Cheetahs fullback Clayton Blommetjies often exposed that weakness with some outstanding runs.

It took 20-minutes for the first points to be scored in the match and splendid work in defence by centre Dries Swanepoel contributed to a fairly easy finish by his midfield partner Burger Odendaal.

Flanker Roelof Smit proved to be a significant thorn in the side of the Cheetahs throughout the contest.

Smit helped his team extend their lead to 8-0 in the 28th minute of the match when he won a penalty at the breakdown.

Already chasing the game, the Cheetahs were dealt a further blow when prop Luan de Bruin was sent off for cynical play with seven minutes remaining in the half.

But that didn’t stop the Cheetahs from playing their attacking brand of rugby.

After Tian Schoeman stretched his team’s lead to 11-0 with a penalty, the Cheetahs finally managed to finish after scrumhalf Shaun Venter stepped his way through the Bulls defenders before sending centre Ryno Benjamin over.

The Bulls enjoyed a slender 11-7 lead at the break and the Cheetahs narrowed that gap in the 44th minute through Zeilinga – who had missed two chances in the first stanza.

The goalkickers in both camps would struggle to hit the target for the remainder of the second half and this contributed to a closely contested final quarter.

In what should be encouraging from a national team perspective is that Oupa Mohoje went on a bursting run that is likely to be a result of the intensive training regime he was exposed to while he was still part of the Springbok camp.

The Blue Bulls struggled to deal with the quick line speed at which the Cheetahs defended, but all that changed when Louis Fouche replaced Schoeman at fly-half.

The more experienced man was more confident from the kicking tee, slotting a crucial kick in the 67th minute – and controlled play well.

From broken play, the Blue Bulls were always going to be dangerous and their second try of the match came in the 72-minute when Dries Swanepoel capitalised on some sound decision making by Fouche.

Trailing 23-10 the Cheetahs fought back valiantly and with three minutes remaining on the clock, Sias Ebersohn gave his side a glimmer of hope when he crashed over for their last score of the match.

Scorers: Bulls 24 (11): Tries: Burger Odendaal, Dries Swanepoel. Conversion: Tian Schoeman, Penalties: Schoeman (2), Fouche (2)

Cheetahs 17 (7): Tries: Ryno Benjamin, Sias Ebersohn. Conversions: Fred Zeilinga, Clayton Blommetjies. Penalty: Zeilinga.

ANA

Related Topics: