Cape Town – It’s not often that modern-day professional rugby teams take a bus home on the same day that they played a match, but at least for the Cheetahs, they could travel to Bloemfontein on Wednesday night with a smile on their face.
They had pulled off a 38-25 Currie Cup bonus-point victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, which doesn’t happen often to the defending champions, especially in Pretoria.
Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie confirmed in the post-match press conference that his team had opted to travel back to Bloemfontein immediately after the match so that the players can start their recovery at home in the morning.
But with their next match only on February 19 against the Pumas in Mbombela, perhaps they just wanted to get out of the capital city.
Despite seeing his team scoring six tries, Fourie wasn’t too happy with the performance. “We had really good patches on defence and then a few lapses, especially in the last 10 minutes, where we conceded two or three line-breaks… maybe even more. So, I’m partially happy with what we did,” the former Boland flyhalf said.
🏉FULL-TIME | Vodacom Bulls 25 - Toyota Cheetahs 38#BULvCHE #LegendaryToughness #CheetahsForever #CarlingCurrieCup #ReachForGold #TheChampionWithin@ToyotaSA @CarlingCurrieCup pic.twitter.com/mRzvAbCLwe
— Toyota Cheetahs (@CheetahsRugby) February 2, 2022
“In the first half, I wasn’t happy with our attack and the execution. The defence pulled us through, and we were only one point down. The Bulls had a lot of possession in our 22, and we were a bit lucky to get away from there without conceding points.
“So, we said to each other at halftime that if we can be just one point down, but make so many mistakes, then we’ve got a real chance to beat the Bulls at home, which is always special. They’re a proud team and don’t lose too often at Loftus, so it’s a great achievement for us.”
The Cheetahs were able to disrupt the Bulls’ lineout, which prevented the hosts from launching too many attacks, while their mauls were also well stopped by the visitors.
Add in yellow cards to Reinhardt Ludwig and Lizo Gqoboka, and it quickly became a long night for Cornal Hendricks’ team.
“We couldn’t really build pressure (due to the lineout problems), and that’s actually where it starts. So, we would like to get a better quality ball, and then also build momentum and put them under a little bit of pressure, but we couldn’t do that,” Bulls coach Gert Smal said.
#BULvCHE FULL-TIME
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) February 2, 2022
Tough night at Loftus today. The Toyota Cheetahs proved to be the tough opposition we expected them to be. The visitors claim the 'W'.
Vodacom Bulls 25-38 Toyota Cheetahs#TrueToTheBlue #CarlingCurrieCup #ReachForGold @Vodacom @TheCurrieCup pic.twitter.com/uTiIC3gdbg
“Also, the two yellow cards didn’t help either, so we couldn’t build momentum in the second half. I thought in the first half, if we just hang in there and play the way that we can play… One would’ve liked to have put a little more pressure on them.
54' Eish! Now Bulls mess up a 5m lineout, and the Cheetahs are able to get out of their 22#BULvCHE #CurrieCup
— Ashfak Mohamed (@ashfakmohamed) February 2, 2022
“Just in general, I think we prepared fairly well for them, but it’s just disappointing in the second half. I think the first half was okay, but second half was very disappointing.”
The Bulls now have a month-long break in the Currie Cup, with their next match on March 5 against Griquas in Kimberley.
Points-Scorers
Bulls 25 – Tries: Cameron Hanekom, Stravino Jacobs, Sibongile Novuka. Conversions: Chris Smith (2). Penalty: Smith (1). Drop goal: Smith (1).
Cheetahs 38 – Tries: Rosko Specman, Louis van der Westhuizen (2), Clayton Blommetjies, Aidon Davis, Andisa Ntsila. Conversions: Ruan Pienaar (4).
@ashfakmohamed