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Southern Kings vs Cheethas
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium Saturday 25 May 2013
Final Score: Cheetahs 34 Southern Kings 22
Half time Score: Cheetahs 13 Southern Kings 12
The match was decided as a contest between the 50th and the 61st minute when the Cheetahs ran in three sparkling tries. The Southern Kings hit the front again after trailing 13-12 at the break when Demitri Catrakilis slotted his 5th penalty out of 5 in the 46th minute to make it 15-13 in the home team’s favour. Four minutes later the Cheetahs significantly turned down a shot at goal and opted for the line out. They were rewarded with scrumhalf Piet van Zyl scoring under the posts. The Cheetahs struck again 7 minutes later when Johann Sadie, the outside centre, walked through for his second try. It was a similar story five minutes after that when the left wing Willie le Roux rounded off another sparkling move to grab the bonus point 4th try. The Cheetahs had shown their class and at 34-15 up with 19 minutes to play had done what they needed to do.
Coach Alan Solomons called on his replacements bench and the Kings threw everything at the Cheetahs who showed that on defence, they are just as brave as on attack. The Kings could not find a way through, until the very last minute when Nicolas Vergallo, the replacement scrumhalf burst through the middle to score under the polls for a consolation try. The Kings played some very attractive rugby and showed plenty of heart against one of the top teams in the competition. No-one would have left the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium feeling that the Kings had not given 110%. On the day, they were simply outplayed by a superior outfit.
The Southern Kings went head to toe with the Cheetahs in the first stanza and enjoyed an equal share of the possession. Their forays into the Cheetahs 22 were limited but they did make the Cheetahs pay dearly for the 5 penalties they conceded. Demetri Catrakilis kicked four out of four and they were all long range efforts from the 10-yard region. Full back SP Marais missed a speculative effort from the half way line although he certainly had enough distance on it.
The Cheetahs stayed in touch with two Elgar Watts penalties and in the last ten minutes starting enjoying some good territorial advantage. A sustained passage of play inside the Kings 22 eventually resulted in outside centre Johan Sadie going over for the first try of the match in the 39th minute. Watts made no mistake with the conversion and for the first time the Cheetahs had hit the front. They went into half time 13-12 ahead having inflicted a massive psychological blow to the Kings just before the hooter.
