Highlanders down lethargic Cheetahs
by Dan Retief | 27 February 2010 (18:55)
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| Israel Dagg © Gallo Images |
A freakish try by Fetu’u Vainikolo made the crucial difference as the Highlanders beat the Cheetahs 31-24 in their Super 14 match played in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Blow-by-blow scoring
The Highlanders, had it been a boxing match, were always ahead on points but their victory margin over a disappointing Cheetahs side might not have been but for the left-wing’s curious breakout in the 27th minute.
Cheetahs hooker Adriaan Strauss smashed the ball up and as the ruck started to form the ball suddenly popped out at Vainikolo’s feet and he was able to snatch it up and sprint 50 metres to the goal line without a finger being laid on him.
In the end the Highlanders scored three tries to the two of the Cheetahs to clinch a rare victory on the road and deny the Free Staters an equally uncommon successive Super 14 victory.
The match, however, never reached any great heights with the Cheetahs looking as though it was they, and not the New Zealanders, who were struggling with jet lag and altitude.
Juan Smith’s men probably had in mind to move the Highlanders around and make them feel the bite of Bloemfontein’s rarefied air but were strangely lethargic as they failed to protect or recycle the ball or get it to the peripheries with any promising intent.
The Cheetahs opened the scoring with a penalty by Naas Olivier but the Highlanders’ response was a 10-phase build-up that allowed flyhalf Michael Hobbs to make the key break up the middle before linking with hooker Jason Rutledge, who, in turn, made the scoring pass to centre Kenny Lynn.
Hobbs’s conversion put the Kiwis 7-3 up and they would not trail again. Olivier chipped away with penalties but Vainikolo’s try provided that vital buffer.
An exchange of penalties just before and after the break made the half-time score 15-9 to the visitors and it was 21-12 after 50 minutes as both teams struggled to come to terms with new law interpretations and referee Pro Legoete made them pay.
It was then that Heinrich Brüssow finally gave the crowd something to cheer about with a piece of solo brilliance and power that should have sparked the Cheetahs to greater deeds.
The chunky Springbok flank handed off Lynn, smashed through Israel Dagg and then crashed over the line with Jimmy Cowan and James Paterson clinging to him.
TMO Shaun Veldsman required plenty of time and a number of replays before awarding the try that, after Olivier’s conversion, moved the Cheetahs up to 19-21 in the 57th minute.
The home-side had a chance to grab the lead just two minutes later but Olivier was unable to raise the flags and soon afterwards a strong charge up the middle came to nought for the Cheetahs when the support was slow in arriving and Adriaan Strauss knocked on replacement scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius’s pop-pass.
There were signs that the Cheetahs were gaining the upperhand but a somewhat harsh penalty against Hennie Daniller for holding the ball on the ground allowed Dagg to widen the gap (24-19 in the 69th minute) before the Highlanders landed the killer blow with the best try of the match.
Turned over possession allowed the Highlanders to counter quickly and once again their superior ball retention sucked in the defenders before Hobbs was able to break cleanly through up the middle; he sent Shoemark flying to the posts and when the centre was stopped by Lionel Mapoe the little flyhalf snatched up the ball to dive over.
Dagg’s conversion made it 31-19 with just eight minutes left to play and it seemed the Cheetahs might be denied even a bonus point -- a situation skipper Juan Smith refused to accept as he strained every sinew to force himself over the line as the Cheetahs attacked to the right off a scrum in the 77th minute.
That made it 24-31, giving the Cheetahs a chance to maybe even snatch it, but Meyer Bosman pushed his conversion to the right.
So a draw was possible with the clock running down but the Cheetahs failed to properly control the kick-off and it was the Highlanders who ended the game on attack -- Adam Thomson being denied a try by the TMO as they swarmed up to the Cheetahs line which denied the Landers a bonus point and preserved one for the Cheetahs.
Scorers were:
Cheetahs (9) 24: Tries by Heinrich Brüssow (56 min), Juan Smith (77 min). Naas Olivier kicked four penalties and a conversion.
Highlanders (15) 31: Tries by Kenny Lynn (6 min), Fetu’u Vainikolo (27 min), Michael Hobbs (71 min). Hobbs kicked a conversion and Israel Dagg four penalties and a conversion.
Read more on the Super 14 page.
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