What an inspiring but disappointing game from the Cheetah's.
As Cheetah's Captain Juan Smith limped off after 3 minutes you feared the worst for the home team. This set back proved to spur them on rather than hinder them, with a monstrous performance from replacement 8th man Ashley Johnson.
In the first half the Cheetah's only seemed to struggle at scrum time and slowly took control in other aspects of the game. The Bulls looked as if they lacked confidence in their game plan or blatantly ignored it. It was as if they were expecting to dominate the game and assumed a win would fall into their laps.
The Cheetah's went into half time with an 11-8 lead courtesy of 2 penalties from fly half Naas Olivier and a superb try from Andries Strauss who straightened the line magnificently in loose play off Ashley Johnson’s pop pass. Morne Steyn added a penalty to an early Bakkies Botha try.
The first 20 minutes in the second half saw the Cheetah's maintain their dominance with two early tries from Robert Ebersohn and Ashley Johnson but you sensed it was going to start slipping away as Wilhelm Steenkamp was sent to the bin after referee Craig Joubert lost his patience with continuous ruck time infringements.
The turning point in the game was clearly the Bulls timely substitutes and depth they showed with the likes of Danie Rossouw, Derick Kuun. The entire team showed great maturity and belief in themselves to claw back from a poor first half performance to a deserved win.
There is no doubt in my mind that the calmness a team gets with the likes of du Preez, Matfield, Botha, Steyn and Rossouw in it is what pushes a team like the Bulls to victory in a contest as tight as this.
The last 20 minutes provided the Bulls with 2 tries from Danie Rossouw and Fourie du Preez as well as 1 penalties and 2 conversions from Morne Steyn.
The Bulls ran out 25-23 victors in Bloemfontein with a disappointed Cheetah's team left wondering if they can take the first half performance and more to Newlands against the Stormers next week.
| BULLS | CHEETAH'S | ||||
| Penalties: | Morne Steyn (2) | Naas Olivier (2) | |||
| Tries: | Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw, | A Strauss, R.Ebersohn, | |||
| Fourie du Preez | A Johnson | ||||
| Conversions: | Morne Steyn (2) | Naas Olivier (1) | |||
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