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Cheetahs dethrone the Sharks

Saturday 19th July 2008

Shark Attack: Scott Mathie sparks a move in Bloemfontein

The Cheetahs underlined their Currie Cup intentions by recording an emphatic 31-9 victory over the Sharks in Bloemfontein on Saturday - a result that sees the Durbanites drop from first to fourth in the standings.

With just two wins from their first four games, the defending champions needed a win against the Sharks to keep their title defence on the rails, and the did not disappoint the orange-clad locals.

The four-tries-to-nil win sees the Cheetahs rise from fifth to third in the table, and they now sit just four points adrift of the Bulls who assume the Sharks' erstwhile position at the top of the pile.

Despite a decidedly off-key performance, the visitors were still in with a shout until the Cheetahs struck with two late tries from Fabian Juries and Schalk van der Merwe within two minutes to ruin Sharks skipper Johann Muller's 50th Currie Cup encounter.

What's more, the Bloemfontein-based side now have a relatively easy three-week stint that includes the Valke (h), Boland (a) and Griquas (h). Victory in all three games could secure the Cheetahs a semi-final spot.

And the Sharks may now have to wait yet another year to record their first victory over their bogey team - they have not seen off the Free Staters in the Currie Cup since 2003.

The only bad news for the Cheetahs was the sight of their captain, Hendro Scholtz, leaving the field late in the first half due to an injury.

He and Heinrich Brussow were instrumental in their success at the breakdowns while locking duo Barend Pieterse and David de Villiers made life difficult for the Sharks in the line-outs.

The pair poached their fair share of possession from the Sharks. Stefan Terblanche, the Sharks fullback, kept the Cheetahs at bay with his long touch finders in the first half.

Muller, of the 50 caps, also played hard throughout to stop the home side Eddie Fredericks scored his 50th try for the Cheetahs with the only touchdown in the first half of the match.

His try came after Sharks fly-half, Frederic Michalak, decided to pass the ball to winger Henno Mentz in the in-goal area rather than kicking for touch.

The French flair backfired on the Sharks as Mentz knocked the ball on. All but two of Fredericks's tries were scored in the Currie Cup competition. Springbok Sevens star, Juries, did exactly what his coach Naka Drotsk� expected of him.

With his first touch of the ball, after replacing Fredericks, he injected some serious pace in the Cheetahs' backline before offloading to Kabamba Floors and receiving the ball back again from the flanker to round off the move.

Shortly after Juries went over, replacement scrum-half Tewis de Bruyn found a gap in the Sharks' defence and number eight Van der Merwe scored the home side's bonus point try.

The Cheetahs coach will also be more than happy with the performance of the 19-year-old centre, Robert Ebersohn. The South Africa School's centre did nothing flashy but he could feel more than proud with a solid performance in his first Currie Cup start.

The scorers:

For Cheetahs:
Tries: Fredericks, Fortuin, Juries, Van der Merwe
Cons: Rossouw 4
Pen: Rossouw

For Sharks:
Pens: Michalak, Dumond 2

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

Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Chris Jordaan, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Henno Mentz, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Scott Mathie, 8 Keegan Daniel, 7 Nikolai Blignaut, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Johann Muller (c), 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Skipper Badenhorst, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Robbie Harris, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Skholiwe Ndlovu, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Riaan Swanepoel, 22 Monty Dumond

Touch judges: Craig Joubert, Peet Badenhorst
Television match official: Michael Cupido
Assessor: Arrie Schoonwinkel