LLANELI – The Cheetahs and Southern Kings went down for the second week in a row on their Guinness Pro14 tours with the South African teams suffering defeats against the Scarlets in Wales and Leinster in Ireland respectively.
The Scarlets delivered an effective display against the Cheetahs in Llanelli on Sunday for a 43-21 victory, while Conference B log-leaders and competition pace-setters, Leinster, outplayed the Southern Kings 59-19 in Dublin on Friday.
The Cheetahs were forced to play catch-up rugby early on against the Scarlets as their porous defence saw them trailing 28-0 in the 19th minute, while the opposition were high on confidence with the bonus point sealed.
Former Cheetahs looseforward Uzair Cassiem made a strong statement for the Scarlets in the second minute as he gathered a challenging pass to touch down, while the team’s hard-running combined with their skilful attack and solid support play saw them score three more tries in the first quarter.
Franco Smith’s charges tightened up their defence later in the half and showed their intent on attack, and this paid off as Benhard Janse van Rensburg ran a good angle to score in the 28th minute, while the Scarlets were down to 14 men due to an infringement in a ruck.
Rabz Maxwane - who entered the round as the top try-scorer in the competition - added their second try in the 38th minute after gathering the ball following some skilful kicking by Abongile Nonkontwana to reduce the deficit to 28-14 going into halftime.
A beautiful day and some ever better tries ✨ as @scarlets_rugby powered past a very ambitious @CheetahsRugby side 🐆
A great display of attacking rugby for the fans at Parc y Scarlets 🏟 #GUINNESSPRO14 #SCAvCHE
Read more here 👀 https://t.co/PNNdHHTViU pic.twitter.com/vtNMFtsLpk
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) February 24, 2019
The Scarlets built on their solid form in the second half, as they crossed the tryline for the fifth time in the 43rd minute from effective forward play, and they added their sixth in the 68th minute from a well-timed intercept, to add to an earlier penalty goal.
The Cheetahs, in turn, only managed to score one try in the second half compliments of Gerhard Olivier, who supported a good line break by Tian Schoeman. This forced them to settle for the 43-21 defeat.
In Dublin, Leinster overcame an early challenge by the Kings to run in an impressive nine tries for a convincing 59-19 victory.
The opening 30 minutes of the clash was a true battle as both sides threatened on attack with their good phase-play and timely defensive breaks.
Leinster struck first with a converted try, but back to-back tries by Bjorn Basson and Sarel Pretorius pushed the Southern Kings 12-7 ahead in the 19th minute.
This, however, was the only stage of the match in which the visitors held the lead, as Leinster retained their composure and hammered away at the defence, while they did well to capitalise on their try-scoring chances.
📢 Match Report 📢
Nine-try @leinsterrugby power past @SouthernKingsSA👇 #GUINNESSPRO14 #LEIvKIN pic.twitter.com/l4ns0jjj47
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) February 22, 2019
These skills saw them add three more tries in the first half, which sealed their bonus point, and allowed them to enter the break 24-12 ahead.
The Kings reduced the deficit to 24-19 two minutes into the second half as Ulrich Beyers navigated his way to the tryline after receiving a well-timed pass in space, but the team were unable to add to their score as Leinster dominated proceedings for the rest of the match.
Such was the high quality of Leinster’s finishing, they crossed the tryline five times in the second half, which allowed them to take their tally for the match to nine, which strengthened their position as the Conference B log-leaders.