News

Cheetahs pipped at Newlands

Saturday 05th July 2008

Good Kicking: Willem De Waal put his former team to the sword

Western Province pipped the Cheetahs 9-3 in a lifeless Currie Cup match at soggy Newlands on Saturday.

Indeed, the only real movement of the afternoon happened in the table where the Capetonians leapfrogged the reigning champs into second place.

Three penalties from Willem De Waal, formerly of the Cheetahs, was enough to see the visitors surrender their unbeaten Currie Cup record; all they could offer was a lone penalty by fly-half Chris Rossouw.

A heavy downpour greeted the start of the match and both sides kicked excessively to gain territorial advantage rather than to risk employing a running game.

Inevitably, it was the locals who coped better with the conditions.

"We don't see this much rain in year," said a rueful Hendro Scholtz after the game, clearly pining for the clear blue skies of Bloemfontein.

With trenches dug, Western Province set about putting Willem de Waal in range of goal, and he came good with two of his three attempts in the first half, and the locals duly took a 6-0 lead into the break.

With the sun threatening to make an appearance, the second half saw far less of Rossouw's boot as the Cheetahs decided to the run at the WP defence.

The tactic paid early dividends, with WP pinned back for the first ten minutes of the concluding half - a period that produced Rossouw's one successful shot at goal.

WP finally managed to break out of their half when their enterprising full-back Gio Aplon hoisted a high up-and-under which he followed up superbly to make an onslaught on the Cheetahs tryline.

The runaway was collared just short of the line but the Cheetahs infringed in defence and De Waal was on target with the resultant penalty.

The raid stirred the sparse crowd for its slumber and forced the Cheetahs to crawl back into their shells - and there they remained.

The scorers:

For Western Province:
Pens: De Waal 3

Pen: Rossouw

Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Dylan Des Fountain, 12 Gcobani Bobo (captain), 11 Wylie Human, 10 Willem De Waal, 9 Alastair Siegelaar, 8 AJ Venter, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Myburgh, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Francois Van Der Merwe, 19 Justin Melck, 20 Paul Delport, 21 Isma-eel Dollie, 22 Morgan Newman.

Cheetahs: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 Hendrik Meyer, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Chris Rossouw, 9 Neil Powell, 8 Schalk van der Merwe, 7 Hendro Scholtz (c), 6 Heinrich Br�ssow, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Jaco du Toit, 17 Phillip Lemmer, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 JW Jonker, 22 Fabian Juries.

Referee: Craig Joubert
Touch judges: Theuns Jonker, Roderick Barry
Television match official: Willie Roos
Assessor: Thusa Mngqibisa