5 Points separated Cheetahs and Kings

The Toyota Free State Cheetahs XV was made to work extremely hard for their 50-45 win over a gutsy EP Kings in a Vodacom Cup match in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

The score was still 42-all with five minutes remaining at the Free State Stadium, but a penalty and try by replacement flyhalf Ludwig Erasmus wrapped up proceedings for the Cheetahs’ third win of their campaign in the Southern Section.

It was 21-20 for the Cheetahs at halftime.

The Cheetahs, who included flyhalf Niel Marais and replacement scrumhalf Renier Botha, who played for the Shimlas in Monday’s Varsity Cup final, wrapped up the bonus point as early as the second minute of the second half.

It was a rather interesting second half of rugby where it was a case of one for me, one for you.

When captain and centre Tim Whitehead scored his second try for the Kings in the 60th minute, the visitors to a cold Bloemfontein was just a single point behind (35-34). Two minutes later they took the lead for the first time when fullback Scott van Breda nailed a 55-metre penalty.

Once more the trend continued when the Cheetahs scored their sixth try to regain the lead. EP winger Siviwe Soyizwapi replied to level matters at 42-all, before Erasmus came to the fore.

The Cheetahs didn’t do themselves any favours by conceding a large amount of penalties in the first 40 minutes, three of those at the scrum. Their defence also would not have impressed coach Rory Duncan.

The EP Kings are now lying 5th in the Southern Section after 4 games having won one and lost three.

Scorers:

Free State XV – Tries: JP du Plessis, Sergeal Petersen (2), Shaun Venter, Joubert Engelbrecht, Zingisa April, Ludwig Erasmus; Conversions: Niel Marais (6); Penalty: Ludwig Erasmus.

EP Kings – Tries: Tim Agaba, Luther Obi, Tim Whitehead (2), Siviwe Soyizwapi; Conversions: Scott van Breda (4); Penalties: Gary van Aswegen, Van Breda (3).