Lions edge courageous Cheetahs
6 Jun 2009
A Heinrich Brüssow-inspired Cheetahs team went down 26-24 to a second-rate Lions side in Bloemfontein.
This game was one of two halves with the sin-binning of flanker Stephen Ferris the watershed. The tourists were 20-0 up after 24 minutes before Ferris paid the price for the umpteenth breakdown transgression. The Cheetahs scored 14 points in the blindside’s absence to trail 23-14 at the break.
The option-taking and defence wasn’t always great from the home team. Their line defence repelled many a Lions surge, but a soft try by Ferris allowed the visitors to shoot to a 10-0 lead after 12 minutes. A subsequent chip by James Hook was gathered by centre Keith Earls who swerved past a couple of defenders en route to the tryline.
During this period, referee Wayne Barnes allowed the Lions to spoil on defence and seal the breakdown ball off on attack. Brüssow made a couple of turnovers but the Lions were still getting away with illegal play.
It took 23 minutes for Barnes to brandish yellow, and from here the Cheetahs began to gather some momentum. Danwel Demas rounded off a good move that exploited the Lions’ one-man disadvantage, and prop Wian du Preez reduced the deficit further when he steamrolled a defender from close range.
Back to their full compliment, the Lions sought to keep it tighter. They had the better of the Cheetahs’ scrum, Andrew Sheridan applying unsustainable pressure on the outclassed Kobus Calldo. The Lions’ set-piece even held its own when Ferris was off, and the Springbok management should take note, the Lions’ scrum is going to be a massive factor in the Test series. Hook goaled three penalties accrued from the Cheetahs’ scrum transgressions, and it kept the hosts at arm’s length.
The breakdown, however, was a different story. On defence, the visitors did everything they could to spoil the Cheetahs’ ball. Brüssow had another industrious outing in the tackle-department, but it was his ground-zero scavenging that proved the biggest boost to the hosts. Because of his proficiency, the visitors battled to get go-forward after the initial set-piece.
Jacques-Louis Potgieter kicked well initially but missed a great opportunity in the 52nd minute when he pushed a penalty-attempt wide. The three points would’ve reduced the deficit to 26-20 at a critical stage of the game.
The Cheetahs tried their hearts out, and it’s just a pity there weren’t more people at the stadium to witness their brave efforts. Vodacom Park saw 23 000 patrons through the gates, a shocking number considering the stadium now holds 48 000.
The Lions were shaky and it’s only through little errors that the Cheetahs didn’t put them away. Yet another Lions breakdown infringement gifted the hosts a penalty, but Potgieter proceeded to kick it dead. The Cheetahs’ inferiority at scrum time also continued to cost them possession and territory from ensuing penalties.
And yet, it was their strength at the tackle point that kept them afloat. Brüssow never relented in his quest for dominance and his team-mates never dropped their intensity. The Lions have a long way to go if they’re going to compete with the Bok breakdown in the coming Tests.
Both sides were exhausted by the hour mark and it was here that the Cheetahs were always going to be tested. They made another crucial turnover after the Lions launched a multi-phase assault on their tryline. It was clear the Lions would not be coasting to victory in the final minutes.
Replacement flyhalf Louis Strydom missed a difficult penalty attempt in the 70th minute to allow the Lions to keep their nine-point cushion. However, a brilliant reading of a flat Shane Williams pass allowed Corne Uys to sprint 80m for a seven-pointer. With six minutes to go, the Cheetahs had a chance of a massive upset.
The Lions were running out of puff as the clock wound down and the local supporters began to find their voice. After Meyer Bosman crashed it up into the suspect Irish midfield, Strydom slipped into the pocket for the drop-goal. Unfortunately, the kick drifted cruelly wide.
The Cheetahs looked to have another opportunity to win it when Lions fullback Lee Byrne dropped a high ball and his retreating team-mates played it from an offside position, but it was a transgression that the fallible Barnes missed.
The Lions eventually won a penalty in the final play and hacked it into touch. The win takes them to a three-from-three tour record, but there will be more concerns than positives for Ian McGeechan as he prepares his charges for the Tests.
By Jon Cardinelli, at Vodacom Park
718 Comments
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6 Jun 2009, 17:50 pm
#489 wooden spoon: Unfortunately a lot better than your more sane first team post.
6 Jun 2009, 17:51 pm
#479 Puma:
It is not correct to say he was bad in the Super 14.
He missed more than half of the competition due to injury.
Do you remember his comeback game against the Highlanders?
Dominated the lineouts and even saved the match with a try saving tackle.
Future superstar indeed
6 Jun 2009, 17:52 pm
#487 goyougoodthing2: Thanks. Will check at tops and crack one tomorrow with the rump.
6 Jun 2009, 17:52 pm
#497 Transformation: CJ is more agile as well
6 Jun 2009, 17:52 pm
#493 Porto: Well I hope that they don’t lose the series. Remember Juan saying after that game against the Scots last year that the Senior players just decided to play their own game. So just think if they are there and it starts to go wrong they may do it again.
Think no matter what we are stuck with PdV until 2011. He needs to get it right. Selections will cost us and if he has a game plan like last year then we are done. Smitty and Victor just have to take over on the field.
6 Jun 2009, 17:52 pm
#480 Porto: BTW…my many disguises????…LMAO..and I am the only one blogging under my real name… damn..How doff are you???
6 Jun 2009, 17:53 pm
#498 Langenhoven: Running out of anything logical to say?
6 Jun 2009, 17:53 pm
#486 SodaJoe:
No ways.
Bekker is a much better lineout jumper than Oom Danny
And a better centre…..
6 Jun 2009, 17:53 pm
I’d say as South African’s and most probably most rugby lovers, that we are seeing the end days of national teams being the best and the time of the Super Clubs.
Bulls, Sharks etc are better to watch than what looks like a political Protea Rugby Team.
Same up north. I’d rather pay to watch a franchise team picked on merit and run like a business than a bunch of players picked for reasons other than merit.
Any day of the week I would support that more. Sad days for the purist but in a way good days for great rugby.
6 Jun 2009, 17:54 pm
#506 Langenhoven: I like it when the insults start coming! ooooooooohhhhhh!
6 Jun 2009, 17:54 pm
#502 cris: Just hope he does not drift off and play on the wing your superstar
Danie is way better and dependable.
6 Jun 2009, 17:54 pm
Fark! If only we had kicked our penalties over……….
6 Jun 2009, 17:54 pm
#496 Puma: Bud. Seriously there is nothing wrong with Piet’s gameplan.
I believe that our one-dimensional style won us very little bar a RWC – which is pretty much 2 years ago.
I am just shocked that PdV could not see that a solid scrum platform, a great fetcher and safe hands and feet at the back would not enable him to declare himself the most successful coach in recent Springbok history.
Not only does he have foot in mouth disease, he also has shoot yourself in the foot disease.
6 Jun 2009, 17:54 pm
Here is the team i feel should be chosen for first test
I for one have no problem if the flyhalf is ruan or morne , neither will let the team down
15 F steyn
14 JPP
13 J Fourie/adi
12 JDV / WO
11 habana
10 ruan / morne
09 fourie
08 spies
07 juan
06 burger
05 matfield
04 bakkies
03 smit
02 bismark
01 beast
16 guthro and not chilli purely as i thik smit can cover hooker if bismark got injured etc thus we can have an extra prop on the bench in carstens
17 carstens as he is the only other TH in the squad
18 russouw
19 kanko
20 morne / ruan if ruan starts and fourie gets injured ruan can still cover scrummy and if ruan is on bench same thing , cover 09 and 10
21 adi/ fourie depends on pdv plans who he starts with
22 wo / jean same thing depends on pdv
adi can cover wing as can jean and jpp cann cover FB if steyn got injured with for example adi moving to wing or jean
6 Jun 2009, 17:55 pm
I have difficulty putting together a really strong team without Brussouw in it
6 Jun 2009, 17:56 pm
#511 Puma:
We will talk later during the season again.
You will become a fan, it might just take a bit of time
6 Jun 2009, 17:56 pm
#497 Transformation: Actually I agree with you. CJ is better imo – the Bok 3 of CJ, Biz and Beast was very solid. I have seen our 3 with BJ shunted.
6 Jun 2009, 17:56 pm
#505 Puma: Problem is: we can;t ever fire Snor, no matter what. He could pick a team made up of Zuma’s concubines and we would have to keep him because firing the first ‘black’ coach for underperformance would say the very thing that they don’t want.
Unfortunately it’s not about the colour of his skin, it’s about the fact he isn’t up to the job. If it really has to be a person of colour, it should have been Chester.
6 Jun 2009, 17:57 pm
#508 cris: I will agree that Bekker is a better center.
6 Jun 2009, 17:57 pm
#514 sharks_lover: Thanks. Gurthro ahead of Carstens. I forgot about him. I would put him ahead of Beast in the starting lineop. He’s technically better from greater experience.
6 Jun 2009, 17:57 pm
#500 Veltie: Listen here mate…People pay to be in my company…Companies pay top dollar for my services…and you think that you can just walk in and demand my time… I will give you a discount price…£600 plus vat per day or any part thereof…
6 Jun 2009, 17:58 pm
#515 sglazer:
Maybe they can select him as a ball boy.
He is short enough
6 Jun 2009, 17:58 pm
#515 sglazer: You’d have a problem putting a World 15 togther without Brussouw in it.
6 Jun 2009, 17:58 pm
#517 SodaJoe: and i have seen cj fold way more and give away a shitload of penalties
i agree with most mate but cj is a penalty freak lol
6 Jun 2009, 17:59 pm
#518 goyougoodthing2: But Chester was a huge failure at the Cats – didn’t even last a full season…
6 Jun 2009, 17:59 pm
#518 goyougoodthing2: Some of Zoomers concubines look like they could do a good job at 3 and we are a bit light there.
Actually maybe not. If Fatty Januarie is on the bench he covers 9, and 3.
6 Jun 2009, 18:00 pm
#513 SodaJoe: Game plan? I haven’t seen it yet
6 Jun 2009, 18:00 pm
#520 sglazer: hell no glazer
beast is far better in scrums
**** go watch bulls games again and see guthro get his head shoved into his own *** lol
highlanders , tahs john smit whipped guthro
no mate sorry
6 Jun 2009, 18:00 pm
#521 Langenhoven: gedink jy is vol k*k. Kan dit na ure ook maak as jy wil. Jy is mos lief vir debateer? Hier gee ek jou nou die gulde geleentheid buite die anonimiteit van n blog. Gesig to gesig. Op n ernstige noot, ek dink mens kan n baie meer ordentelike gesprek he met die mens ipv die ideologie. Bal in jou baan. Use it, don;t use it…
6 Jun 2009, 18:00 pm
#522 cris: At least he would be on the field
6 Jun 2009, 18:00 pm
#510 Porto: You do enough damage to yourself mate…but if you choose to lower yourself expect to be trodden on
6 Jun 2009, 18:00 pm
#521 Langenhoven: Aren’t you just a quantity surveyor?
6 Jun 2009, 18:01 pm
#524 sharks_lover: What I would give for the second coming of Hempies Du Toit.
6 Jun 2009, 18:01 pm
#521 Langenhoven: …and by the way…never demanded. I extended an invitation. Learn the difference.
6 Jun 2009, 18:01 pm
#521 Langenhoven: Hee hee hee
6 Jun 2009, 18:01 pm
Veltie, mooi man. You called his bluff.
6 Jun 2009, 18:01 pm
to me the only stronger loosehead in SA then beast is heinke van der merwe i think
well used to be stronger , i know though that beast has made huge strides
6 Jun 2009, 18:02 pm
#533 SodaJoe: eish boet lol a stronger fugger he was
6 Jun 2009, 18:02 pm
#513 SodaJoe: Well then his selections will cost us Joe. No out and out fetcher. We need that with the game he wants to play. Also no proper FB. Why not Zane or even Stefan for the Lions tour? He has also shifted John to TH? Thats all crazy.
Though watching John against the Landers sort of made me relax a bit. Think with Bakkies at his back we could be fine there. Hoping. I would have left John at hooker. For me he is our best hooker. I prefer him to Bissie and also his throw-ins are way better. Well no use going on of who should be there. They are selected now hope he just selects the correct 22 on Monday.
Needs someone to teach him to talk in public. Most big business do that. Would never allow someone like that to talk to the public. He does embarrass us a lot.
6 Jun 2009, 18:02 pm
#525 wooden spoon: What difference would it make… that’s my point.
Seriously, if you were offered the job as Bok coach, would you pick Garry Glitter and **** ‘Media Man’ Muir as your number 2s?
That shows some very very weird thought patterns
6 Jun 2009, 18:02 pm
#528 sharks_lover: I hear you. I think you’re right in the scrums. But I think Beast is more an individualist in general field play at present. Gurthro is always there, on the ball.
6 Jun 2009, 18:03 pm
#532 wooden spoon: #532 wooden spoon: Commercial management consultant specialising in FM contracts…. Might as well sell myself properly…
6 Jun 2009, 18:03 pm
#527 Porto: Did you watch the last England game? Last Aussie game. Come on bud, be fair.
And we have to be honest – we lose a ton more than we win against those that count.
And looking at my Francois Pienaar Madiba poster doesn’t make it better.
Winning and losing are about today not yesterday.
6 Jun 2009, 18:03 pm
#531 Langenhoven: #531 Langenhoven: Yeh your probably right. Bye for now
6 Jun 2009, 18:04 pm
#526 SodaJoe: Don’t mention that little fatty can’t pas right quota selection
6 Jun 2009, 18:05 pm
#528 sharks_lover: Agree. Beast is our best loosehaed, and his scrumming this year is exceptional.
Guthro is not a great scrummager. But simply brilliant in the tight loose. Second highest tackle count in the Bulls apparently. Great impact player.
6 Jun 2009, 18:05 pm
#406 Langenhoven: I was trying to illustrate a point. And categorisation is a fact of life. A car is a car and a motorbike is a motorbike. Its a way of communicating. If things didnt have names it would make it very difficult talking about them wouldnt it. So you can see the “categorisation” in a negative light or as a simple matter of fact. I´m white/ European whatever you call it and thats a simple fact. We are talking about ideas here. And no I dont have a racist mindset. It does however seem obvious you do.
6 Jun 2009, 18:05 pm
#542 Langenhoven: our businesses not too different either. I think we might have lots to talk about…
6 Jun 2009, 18:06 pm
#532 wooden spoon: Don’t be a doos. It keeps coming back. Let it go away now. It makes me scroll too much.
6 Jun 2009, 18:06 pm
#546 SodaJoe: Beast is far better than Gurthro. He also has the added advantage of being “ethnic” which is ironic seeing as he is Zibabwean.
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