OORB

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The Cheetahs hosted the Lions in Blingfontyn and with the history of the two teams, well another hard fought Derby was to be expected.

Both teams were guilty of too many basic errors and based on the performance of Saturday- no one has booked a playoff spot as yet, come Oktober- which is still lOOking rather colourless.

The Cheetahs did play with alot of commitment, but if Kobus Calldo is injured and the locks do not play with more aggression, it is going to be a huge struggle against the physical teams of this competition.

The defence has improved remarkable since the S14 and with ball in hand the Cheetahs lOOked dangerous. Two possible tries were not awarded due to - flat passes - one very dubious - but that is life.



The play of Niel Powell and Chris Rossouw was the highlight of the day from the Cheetahs side.

The backline looks capable of scoring tries from wherever on the field and the lOOse trio are very mobile HUSARIA- style. They contested the breakdown well, but might be a bit light when the Percheron ploDDers from up North stages the breakdown close to the setpieces.

The lineouts were a disaster- maybe because the Lions had 4 jumpers but eish- not used to my team struGGling there.

LuftwaFFe- go BIG boet!

All in all - a solid win - nothing to be overjoyed about!

A almost surreal weekend of rugby!

The Bulls are scoring outside tries!

amazing!

Congrats to John Mametsa- 100 games on the wing for the Tswanepoele and 3 tries to bOOt!

Great stuFF!

Cheetahs stuck out against the OutbackOnyons- and glady so, retaining the interOutback braGGing rights and the O FM Cup,



photo by Servaas De Kock for OFM Sport

and Province nearly got a draw in Deben.

Match commentaries to be posted as "posts" under this thread!

Another would be - could be article

Will write arti later- just getting the Chronological order- well, in order.

wiLLem

BOKKE !

Thanks CoachWhite

Despite all the crap- you delivered- the "liTTle yeLLow Cup"*!

Much Obliged!

* Graham henry is a "plonker of Note"

In the Oranje Outback, rain is always welcome. Being relatively far from the sea and quite high above sea level, constant rain in the Outback is not a guaranteed event. But as in California- when it rains it pours!

No better example than last night- when massive cloud formations were swinging in from the Northwest and "inclement weather" delayed the kickoff of the semifinal twice between the Vodacom Cheetahs and the Vodacom Bulls, in order to determine who will meet the Lions in the 2007 Currie Cup Final.

A visibly excited Joost vd Westhuizen was exclaiming that the wet conditions will bring "parity" to the Bulls attempt to stay in the competition. A valid point, as it would surely hamper the Cheetah's ability to speed up the game in the second half and basically forcing mistakes by the opponents on which the Cheetahs will pounce with ruthless perfection.

The wet conditions was however a known situation to both coaches as both coaches Drotsky & Human named a 5-2 split on the bench. Tight dominating forward play is also the Bulls strongest point so things were looking less bleak for the Bulls than most of their Tshwane based supporters have given them credit for. Apparently the Blue Bulls Rugby Union requested 3000 tickets , but when only 3 were sold on the first day and 25 on the second, the rest were returned to Bloem, hopefully the Currie Cup will follow the same route later!

The conditions were not really enabling the players to play fest rugby, but I seriously doubted whether fest rugby would have been displayed anyway by any team for the largest part of the game - as this match was scripted as a hard slugged out affair upfront from the beginning. What was interesting was that the veteran no skyblue 9, Niel Powell, was preffered over JP Joubert.

One of my concerns going into the game was a post made earlier the week by fellow Cheetah Blogger Private Ryan on Ruggaworld. In it he said the only thing the Cheetahs had to do was to hoist up and unders on Roets and that he will inevitably kick it back. This statement had put some degree of fear into me as Johan Roets had earlier announced his retirement - which I thought was somewhat premature - but I just had a feeling that the Johan Roets that I saw since 2003 had punted as a gOOde option for Green 14 in NH conditions (and Vodacompark did resemble the very best that MudviLLe could have offered) might come to upstage my OranjeOktober party.

One prediction from vAAndrig was however spot on. It was not a case if JP Nel would get a yellow, but when.

After he had already applied the - now castless - forearm against the Cheetahs a couple of times, he was warned by Craig Joubert. A couple of minutes later he clobbered a Cheetah with a forearm that would have made any Fidjian green with envy and which might get him a WWE contract. Because that is where he belongs, as the play-acting of not knowing why he was sinbinned would be much appreciated by the crowd following the farce that is the leading light in sports entertainment, the WWE.

JP Nel must really be rated as one of the dumbest rugby players ever!

That said- the Cheetahs were unable to capitalise on his absence and the Bulls streched the lead with another Bulls penalty. The Loftus Liefling was however not really on song and whenever he missed, Liefling was played on the Vodacompark Sound system, much to the delight of the Vodacom Park partisan crowd, who were reasonably vocal, despite the conditions.

Both kickers struggled with the wet underfoot and made a couple of mistakes that had no effect on the scoreboard.

The Bulls were able to put the pressure more effectively on the Cheetahs and also won the kicking for distance contest. Only gOOde counterrucking and effective first time tackling ensured that the Cheetahs stayed in the game. Corniel van Zyl was back to his best and poached a couple of Bulls throws- sometimes at crucial points. The Cheetah scrum was also dominant while Calldo was on but later on in the second half the Bulls were the stronger scrummagers. The introduction of Bands did have an effect on the scrum but it did not influence the result of the game.

The game was a thrilling contest but the only real moment from the Cheetah side came when the Bulls were attacking for six minutes on the Cheetah line- the ball was turned over- Duanne Vermeulen carried it forward, brilliantly put Eddie Fredericks away who converted the opportunity.

The other magical moment of the game was the line break of Johan Roets but since the pass was forward, the try was not awarded. Must have been a heartbreaking moment for the celebrating SkyBlue 15. Soon afterwards the Orange glow of the setting sun was visible in the stadium, which turned out to be a gOOde omen for blikOOr supporters.

After a farcical display of TMO application, the game was slugged out till the 80th minute and when the time was up, the Cheetahs were in the lead!

gOOde enough for me to celebrate another OranjeOktober!

Well done to the Cheetahs and the Coaching staff, you are deserving of my unconditional respect and support!

60 points out of a possible 70, a homefinal, for sure a very successful Currie Cup campaign!

I am further of the opinion that the 2007 Cheetah CC squad would have beaten the 2007 Cheetah S 14 squad 9 out of ten games and most of the wins with a healthy margin! Again, well done!

That said, let me pay tribute to the Bulls and $hark$ Rugby Unions, their respective coaches, players and of course their supporters.

In a year where the Bulk (no, we provided the bulk- you provided the majority of players! :smile: ) of the BoKKe is coming from your sides, plus we have a more than adequate opportunity to bring the RWC home, your Currie Cup squads had played really well and deserves your and my respect!
You guys will reap the benefits of this exposure next year. I am also of the belief that if the BoKKe win the RWC, the William Web Ellis can be exhibited for quite lenghty spells at Loftus and Kingspark, to pay tribute to the role that those two Unions played. Yes, the four Cheetahs in the RWC squad is for sure in the match 22, but the CC team would not have been able to perform to this level, if we had provide 9 or 11 players to the RWC squad, respectively.

Now for the final against a very dangerous side in two weeks time!

Again I was unable to attend because we celebrated my dad's 75th birthday - congrats dad- hope its another gOOde roundtrip around the sun for you and thanks for the life that you and me mum has given me!- but eish totally unaware of that family celebrations of Haus Orakel- the Cheetahs did rock up in a mOOd for playing the traditional Outback game stopped the "smaller" country couzins for making it "two victories in a row in one week over the incumbent CC Champions" :-))).

Back to me dad

He had the priviledge to meet Paul Roos, Danie Craven and an english speaking Bok captain from East London- whose name I just cannot remeber and I am not going to wake up the olde guy just for that at this hour. Still need to write something about that.

This match report is a copy & past job from www.rugby365.com

Cheetahs race away from Griquas
Saturday 07th July 2007

The Free State Cheetahs raced clear at the top of the Currie Cup standings when they outclassed Griquas 51-10 in their Round Three match in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

After holding a narrow 14-7 (two tries to one) lead at half-time, the Cheetahs simply upped the pace and intensity after the break and scored another five tries for their third successive full-house of log points.

In three games they have now scored 187 points and conceded just 24, scored 25 tries and conceded just two.

Griquas started out well, showing the form that saw them beat the Blue Bulls last week.

In the early stages the visitors from Kimberley defended superbly, running hard and taking the game to the Cheetahs.

The Cheetahs, at first taken aback by the ferocity of the Griquas onslaught, recovered to open the scoring in the 25th minute - with Marius Joubert slipping a tackle and sending a flying Jonathan Mokuena over for the five points.

It was inevitable that the game would turn though as the Cheetahs capitalized on the majority of possession they enjoyed.

Griquas simply couldn't build any momentum through their forwards and soon conceded the second try, as their defence fell apart and Heinrich Brussouw crashed over in the corner for the Cheetahs' second five-pointer.

Fly-half Willem de Waal had slotted both conversions and the Cheetahs were ahead 14-0 in the 33rd minute.

Griquas kept on trying gamely and a brilliant piece of opportunism saw fullback Zane Kirchener racing over after two Cheetahs backs - Philip Burger and Giscard Pieters, thinking Kirschner's kick ahead would go into touch - let the ball bounce. The fullback collected, raced clear and the cover was too late to stop him as he crashed over for what would be Griquas' only try of the afternoon.

Conrad Barnard's conversion made it 14-7 for the Cheetahs at the break.

The Griquas persistently ran at the Cheetahs, but a rock solid defensive line saw their efforts come to nothing at the end of the first half.

After the break the Cheetahs stepped up the pace, with Burger the spark.

It started with a a fine drop-goal just 29 seconds into the second half.

Griquas were not yet ready to give up the fight and some great pressure saw Marius Joubert in trouble and conceding a penalty - which Barnard slotted for what turned out to be the last points Griquas scored.

Soon afterwards Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské made two changes, bringing on Oliie le Roux and Darron Nell.

But it was that man Burger that sparked the rout, as he created space for himself in the centre with a neat chip and recovery. He then threw a great pass to hooker Richardt Strauss, who crashed over.

De Waal pushed the conversion wide, but redeemed himself in the 50th minute when he slotted a penalty to bring his side up to 25 points.

The Cheetahs' fourth try came soon after as Burger picked up the ball off the back of the scrum, turned on the gas and slipped through to dot down with a typical Burger-sommersault at the posts. De Waal made no mistakes, 32-10 .

The Cheetahs continued to dominate, not allowing the Griquas anything at the breakdown and controlling both the scrums and line-outs. The efforts of the forwards certainly paid off as their backs kept the Griquas on the back foot constantly.

The Cheetah simply could not be stopped though and after MJ Mentz was sent off the Cheetahs took the opportunity to score another three tries in the last 11 minutes to go past 50 points and complete the rout.

Man of the match: You can look at a number of the Cheetahs and even one or two Griquas players, but our award goes to the flying Cheetahs fullback Philip Burger - who sparked the Cheetahs' rout and created a number of their scoring opportunities, along with a great score of his own.

The scorers:

For the Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Mokuena, Brüssow 2, Strauss, Burger, De Bruyn, Hollenbach
Cons: De Waal 3, De Bruyn 2
Pen: De Waal
DG: Burger

For Griquas:
Try: Kirchener
Con: Barnard
Pen: Barnard

Yellow card: MJ Mentz (Griquas, 71 - professional foul, playing player without the ball)

Teams:

Free State Cheetahs: 15 Philip Burger, 14 Giscard Pieters, 13 Marius Joubert, 12 Hendrik Meyer, 11 Gavin Passens, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Falie Oelschig, 8 Jonathan Mokuena, 7 Duanne Vermeulen, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Corniel van Zyl, 4 Rory Duncan, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Ollie le Roux, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Darron Nell, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Alwyn Hollenbach.

Griquas: 15 Zane Kirchener, 14 Baldwin McBean, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Danie de Beer, 11 MJ Mentz, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Tobie Botes, 8 Frans Viljoen, 7 Gareth Krause (c), 6 Jacques Burger, 5 Brendon Snyman, 4 Ockie van Zyl, 3 Eugene van Staden, 2 Hans van Dyk, 1 Regardt Dreyer.
Replacements: 16 Louwtjie Louw, 17 Bees Roux, 18 Cilliers Coetzer/Evan Botha, 19 Wayne van Heerden, 20 Eben Olivier, 21 Tiger Mangweni/Darryl Coeries, 22 Lafras Uys.

Referee: JC Fortuin (SARU)
Touch judges: Pro Legoete (SARU), Fakumile Yamile (Eastern Province)
Television match official: Johann Meuwesen (Eastern Province)
Assessor: Lusanda Menze

Teams P W L D BP TP
Cheetahs 2 2 0 0 2 10
Bulls 1 1 0 0 1 5
WP 1 1 0 0 0 4
Lions 1 0 1 0 0 1
Sharks 0 0 0 0 0 0
Griquas 0 0 0 0 0 0
Valke 2 0 2 0 0 0
Cavaliers 1 0 1 0 0 0

No use to see tOO much in he future right now but points difference did give the Cheetahs the edge when it mattered last season!

Well in the past, the Cheetahs have managed to lOOse these games!

Kind of a relief then!

MATCH REPORT COPIED FROM www.rugby365.com

Cheetahs clip the Falcons' wings
Friday 29th June 2007

The Cheetahs continued their impressive early season form when they smashed the Falcons by 45-11 in their Currie Cup Round Two match in Brakpan on Friday.

At a bitterly cold Bosman Stadium the Cheetahs scored six tries to go with the 12 they got in their 91-3 opening win over the Boland Cavaliers last week - ensuring the joint defending champions, the Cheetahs, stay at the top of the standings.

If you had snuggled into an easy chair, warm fire on your left and good food and wine inside you, you would have missed a lively, enterprising Currie Cup match. If you had wrapped up warmly and braved the Brakpan cold, you would have enjoyed a bracing Currie Cup match.

It was cold all right, but there was a refreshing warmth to the rugby as both sides ran and ran on the frost burnt surface. Because the surface was burnt almost to white, the lines were, innovatively, painted in blue.

There was cold comfort for the Valke in Brakpan and scant reward for their creative efforts. They were lively, they eschewed kicks at goal in search of tries, they ran out of deep defence and ended on the wrong end of a big hiding. It just did not seem just.

For the Cheetahs there was the satisfaction of another convincing win and another bonus point. In two matches they have now scored 136 points, conceding just 14. They are looking good, a well-balanced team.

The Cheetahs won the line-outs hands down, taking seven off the Valke. They were stronger in the scrums, better organised on defence, stronger and more cohesive in the maul and enjoying quicker ball at the tackle/ruck. The downside was the number of penalties they conceded 13 in a match of 23 penalties. Of those 23 penalties no fewer than 19 were for infringements at the tackle, in accordance with recent instructions to referees to ensure a fair and legal contest at the tackle.

The Valke were forced to make a late change when Mark Harris was injured in the changing room, which necessitated a shuffle amongst the backs.

Two mauls set up the first Cheetah try. They stole the very first ball the Valke threw into a line-out and drove their maul ahead at speed. Gunder Williamson was penalised and the Cheetahs kicked the penalty out for a five-metre line-out from which young Heinrich Brüssow scored far out. Willem de Waal converted as he did unerringly for each of the Cheetahs' six tries. He also kicked a penalty, missing only a drop-goal attempt.

The Valke went through phases and gave Len Olivier the chance to make the score 7-6 after nine minutes when first Darron Nell and then Brüssow were penalised at tackles.

When the Valke bungled passes near their own line the Cheetahs had a five-metre scrum well in from touch and simply went right to Phillip Burger who darted over for a try far out. That was it for the Valke. They were destined not to be close again.

The Cheetahs won a Valke throw at the line-out on their left and went right to Eddie Fredericks. He raced ahead and then turned the ball back inside. Meyer Bosman got a clever pass behind the back of Nico Luus to Richardt Strauss and the eager hooker scurried over for a try at the posts.

A penalty against Callie Wannenburg for a deliberate knock-on made the half-time score 24-6 to the Cheetahs.

They scored early in the second half. They went right but left a poor pass to bobble about near Fredericks who got the ball and stumbled past to defenders to fall down for a try in the corner. That try gave the Cheetahs a bonus point, and they did not score another try for the next 23 minutes, and when they did it was off a Valke error.


The Valke got their try when they kicked ahead down the right and the Highveld sent the ball bouncing high. They got it, handled and cleared well until Wannenburg was able to force his way over on the left.

Cheetahs' captain Rory Duncan spent some time in the sin bin for a tackle high and dangerous but his absence did not change the score.

The Valke tried to run out of deep defence and Riaan Viljoen threw a long skip pass. Fredericks stretched high, caught it and dawdled over for the try at the posts.

Their last try also came as the Valke tried to run out of trouble but Michael Vermaak's pass went astray and Bosman sent replacement Ryno van der Merwe over for the try.

Man of the Match: It was probably a choice between innovative, slightly eccentric Phillip Burger and bustling, earnest Richardt Strauss. Our choice is Richardt Strauss.

The scorers:

For the Falcons:
Try: Wannenburg
Pens: Olivier 2

For the Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Brüssow, Burger, Strauss, Fredericks 2, Van der Merwe
Cons: De Waal 6
Pen: De Waal

Yellow card: Rory Duncan (Free State Cheetahs, 53 - foul play, dangerous tackle)

Teams:

Falcons: 15 Willem Slabbert, 14 Riaan Viljoen,13 Bertus Swanepoel, 12 Hanno Coetzee, 11 Mpho Matsaung, 10 Len Olivier, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Michael Vermaak, 7 Callie Wannenburg, 6 Piet Krause (captain), 5 Nico Luus 4 Dewald Senekal, 3 Phillip Lemmer, 2 David Brits, 1 Gavin Whittingham.
Replacements: 16 Zane Killian, 17 Gunder Williamson, 18 Hein Potgieter, 19 Marius Coetzer, 20 Morné Adams, 21 Jacques Schutte, 22 Nicky Kritzinger.

Free State Cheetahs: 15 Philip Burger, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 Alwyn Hollenbach, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Gavin Passens, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Falie Oelschig, 8 Darron Nell, 7 Duanne Vermeulen, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Corniel van Zyl, 4 Rory Duncan (c), 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Hercu Liebenberg, 17 Ollie le Roux, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Ryno van der Merwe, 20 Jonathan Mokuena, 21 Jandré Blom, 22 JW Jonker.

Referee: Craig Joubert (SARU)
Touch judges: Pro Legoete (SARU), Johan Greeff (Blue Bulls)
Television match official: Johann Meuwesen (Eastern Province)
Assessor: Dennis Immelman

Always gOOde to start the season with a win. Although not tOO much must be read into this, congratulations to the new coaching staff and the players for getting a gOOde points difference going!

Match report copied from www.rugby365.com

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Cheetahs start with 12-try rout
Friday 22nd June 2007

The Free State Cheetahs showed exactly why they are the joint Currie Cup champions and early favourites to feature in the play-offs again come October, when they started their 2007 campaign with a 12-try rout (91-3) of newcomers Boland Cavaliers in Bloemfontein on Friday.

For the Cavaliers, who qualified to play in the top echelon by virtue of two easy victories over the Pumas recently, it was a timely wake-up call.

With the loss of most of their top stars through the Fidentia scandal (their sponsor went under curatorship) it is clear they simply don't have the depth or strength to compete at this level.

You suspect they might be on the wrong end of few more such hidings.

After a relatively slow start - considering the end result - the Cheetahs raced to a 49-3 lead at half-time.

Free State played some excellent running rugby with Philip Burger (fullback), Gavin Passens (wing) and Eddie Fredericks (wing) the star performers.

Forgotten Springbok Marius Joubert (centre) also showed that at this level he is a cut above most.

Heinrich Brussouw (flank), Richardt Strauss (hooker) and Corniel van Zyl (lock) also had too much class for their opponents.

Strauss, one of two players who scored a hat-trick, was without doubt the player of the match.

The other hat-trick came from Passens.

For Boland it was an uphill battle in the scrums and line-outs.

Stormers scrum-half JP Joubert was the best in the visiting side and one of the few players from Boland who could match the class of the Bloemfontein outfit.

Such was the Cheetahs' dominance that replacement scrum-half Tewis de Bruyn took over at fly-half in the final 20 minutes and calmly slotted five conversions.

The scorers:

For the Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Passens 3, Fredericks 2, Strauss 3, Nell, Burger, Du Preez, De Villiers
Cons: De Waal 6, De Bruyn 5
Pens: De Waal 3

For the Boland Cavaliers:
Pen: Peach

Teams:

Free State Cheetahs: 15 Phillip Burger, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 Marius Joubert, 12 Hendrik Meyer, 11 Gavin Passens, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Falie Oelschig, 8 Rudolph van der Merwe, 7 Daniel Vermeulen, 6 Heinrich Brussouw, 5 Corniel van Zyl, 4 Rory Duncan (captain), 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 R Strauss, 1 W du Preez
Replacements: 16 Ollie Le Roux, 17 Herculaas Liebenberg, 18 David De Villiers, 19 Darron Nell, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Barry Goodes, 22 Alwyn Hollenbach.

Boland Cavaliers: 15 Renfred Danzel, 14 John Daniels, 13 Piet van Zyl, 12 Hennie Daniller, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Isma-eel Dollie, 9 JP Joubert, 8 Francois Prinsloo, 7 Chris Potgieter, 6 Juan Mofu, 5 Kollie Basson, 4 Randell Julies, 3 Andries Human, 2 Conrad Burke (captain), 1 Janro van Niekerk.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Wiun, 17 Ruan du Preez, 18 Gert Schoombie, 19 Angelo Brinkhuis, 20 Dewald Duvenhage, 21 Lionel Cornelius, 22 Antonius van Verhoeven.

Referee: Deon van Blommestein (SARU)
Touch judges: Fakumile Yamile (Eastern Province). Johan Greeff (Blue Bulls)


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