Riaan’s heroics sink the Sharks

Riaan Viljoen © Gallo Images

Riaan Viljoen was the Cheetahs’ hero as they beat the Sharks 25-20 in their Vodacom Super 14 rugby match played at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Friday night.

Blow-by-blow scoring

Viljoen, the Griquas fullback who was taken on tour with the Springboks last year, scored a stunning try and landed two long-range penalties near the end to steer the Cheetahs to their first away victory in the Super 14 since 2007.

Conversely the lacklustre Sharks were consigned to their second successive home defeat on the eve of their departure for Christchurch on a trip down under that has not inaccurately been described as the “tour from hell”.

In humid conditions that left the players drenched in perspiration and led to an overabundance of handling errors the Cheetahs eschewed their usual expansive tactics to grind out a win against an unimaginative Sharks outfit unable to make effective use of their surfeit of possession.

An error-ridden match was pock-marked by too many scrums, too many penalties and too much stop-start and the sluggishness of the Sharks confirmed early impressions that something has gone seriously wrong down Durban way.

In the end all the Sharks could take from the game was a solitary moment of accurate play that led to an excellent try for Ryan Kankowski and the fact that when it came to the focal point of the game -- the scrums -- their all Springbok trio came out slightly ahead; especially when John Smit moved to tighthead with replacement Willem Alberts scrumming behind him.

After the exhilarating tries the Cheetahs scored in their opening game against the Bulls one might have expected more of the same but instead they opted for a flat-lying defensive pattern which was justified by the result.

After Rory Kockott and Naas Olivier had exchanged penalties Viljoen’s solo power play brought the first try of the match in the 23rd minute as he fielded a kick ahead near his own 22m line and counter-attacked.

There was a suspicion of obstruction on Stefan Terblanche, chasing his own kick, as Viljoen evaded him however he burst through Alistair Hargreaves’ feeble tackle, sped up the middle of the field, sold Ruan Pienaar a dummy and crossed at the posts.

Olivier’s conversion took the Cheetahs to 10-3 which became 10-9 at the break as Kockott, who on the night would miss three penalties and a conversion, chipped away at the lead.

The half-time break produced a change of referee as Jonathan Kaplan cried off and was replaced by Pro Legoete and the Sharks were briefly a team transformed when play resumed.

Suddenly there was urgency and protection of the ball and the result was a characteristic try for Kankowski wide on the right as nine recycles and a lovely skipped pass by Waylon Murray set the Springbok No 8 free to re-claim the lead (14-10).

But that was pretty much it for a Sharks team who seemed almost disinterested in proceedings.

Viljoen slotted his pair of penalties from long range in the 55th and 57th minutes as the Sharks fell foul of new law interpretations to take Juan Smith’s men to 19-14 in front.

A Kockott penalty pulled it back to 17-19 but a coolly-taken drop by Naas Oliver in the 71st minute followed by a penalty three minutes later put the Cheetahs in charge at 25-17 and forced the Sharks to settle for a penalty after fulltime to at least get a bonus point out of a desultory performance.

Scorers:
Sharks - Try: Ryan Kankowski. Penalties: Rory Kockott (5).
Vodacom Cheetahs - Try: Riaan Viljoen. Conversion: Naas Olivier. Penalties: Olivier (3), R. Viljoen (2) Drop Goal: Olivier.

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