Cheetahs roar back to clinch a berth in final
● The Free State Cheetahs produced an astonishing second-half turnaround to beat the Sharks 51-30 in Bloemfontein, to qualify for next week’s Currie Cup final that they’ll host.
While they outscored the Sharks seven tries to four, the reeling in of the 20-11 halftime deficit was impressive.
They drilled in 40 points to the Sharks’ 10 to book a date with the Golden Lions.
The Cheetahs and the Lions are deserved finalists, finishing first and second.
The Cheetahs though may need to realise they won’t always get away with their slow starts, as was the case in the Western Province win last week and the semifinal.
In a first half of plentiful opportunities, the Sharks made better use of theirs.
Having scored the first try through Curwin Bosch in the second minute, they added two more through live-wire scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba in the 21st minute and Lwazi Mvovo in the 38th minute to take what looked like a decisive nine-point lead.
The Cheetahs scored a try through Sipato Pokomela in the 13th minute, but the Sharks showed more enterprise on attack, especially when they moved the ball wide.
In the wide channels the Cheetahs were found wanting in all three tries.
In Bosch’s opener, an Aphelele Fassi grubber opened up the space that the Sharks exploited.
Nohamba’s 31st-minute try was a case of the Sharks again moving the ball wide, with Nohamba collecting Mvovo’s pass before making an unchallenged dash for the lefthand corner.
The Sharks’ third try was simple and effective, the effervescent Fassi running a superb angle that opened up the Cheetahs.
Mvovo ran the straight line that unlocked the door to the tryline.
While Pokomela scored a straightforward try from an overlap, the only other points the Cheetahs had to show for their efforts were two Tian Schoeman penalties.
The Cheetahs were also guilty of impatience and over-elaboration with ball in hand in the Sharks 22.
The Sharks increased their lead by three points with a 44th minute Bosch penalty.
The try-fest then started when William Small-Smith scored an unconverted 47thminute try to narrow the deficit to 23-16. Bizarrely, the Sharks had assistant coach David Williams removed from the field in the 55th minute for dissent. They had also lost Fassi to injury, robbing them of one of their attacking fulcrums.
The Cheetahs scored three minutes later through Ruan Pienaar after a quick lineout, from which Dries Swanepoel’s pass found Clayton Blommetjies. The fullback cut a swath through the Sharks defence and passed to Pienaar.
With the score at 23-all, Blommetjies again cut up the Sharks defence, with hooker Joseph Dweba scoring the 62nd-minute try that gave the Cheetahs the 30-23 lead.
The Sharks though remained patient and disciplined, with a 14-phase period being rewarded with a 67th minute Bosch try.
That’s where the Sharks’ contribution to the game ended, with the Cheetahs running in 70th, 74th and 77th-minute tries by Pokomela, Retshegofaditswe “Ox” Nche and Jasper Wiese to cap a powerful second half. They’re going to be a menace next week.