Specman on song as Cheetahs prove too strong for Province
ROSKO SPECMAN was the star of the show in Bloemfontein as he scored a superb try for the Free State Cheetahs and had a direct hand in two as they secured an impressive bonus-point victory over Western Province.
Specman was absolutely scintillating with his powerful runs, superb support play and his all-round hard work in the Cheetahs’ second-bonus-point win in as many matches. The Sevens man scored the opening try when he got the ball in own 22 after a clearance kick by Province and glided through WP’s defence, leaving no fewer than three defenders grasping at nothing.
He also had a direct hand in their second five-pointer, scored by inside centre William Small-Smith, when he got hold of the ball after a maul and broke the line once again, before offloading to the midfielder to put in the final dash to score.
For the Cheetahs’ third try, he received a pass from loose forward Uzair Cassiem, before sending a perfectly-timed pass to skipper Francois Venter, whoc crossed the line to score.
Province enjoyed more territory and possession in the first half, but the Cheetahs proved to be more clinical as they made great use of their opportunities to convert their chances into points.
Their ability to pounce on turnovers in open play and a few brilliant individual moments secured victory for the defending champions.
They also managed to poach a number of Province’s lineouts, and the only area Province could confidently say they dominated was the scrums.
Province also got a try worthy of bragging about when scrumhalf Justin Phillips neatly controlled the ball and managed to ground the ball over his head (while on his back) on the line in the tackle after Province were propelled forward by another power-packed maul, and that try came in handy, especially given the fact that they were denied a try in a very controversial manner after they applied good pressure on the hosts. WP made great use of their powerful driving maul to get over the try line after referee AJ Jacobs told them to use it or lose it, and after they “used it” well enough to get over the try line, Jacobs ruled that Province didn’t take their chance and awarded the Cheetahs possession.
Province managed to get one more converted try on the score sheet through Steph de Wit in the last eight minutes, but in the second half it was all Cheetahs as they kept Province to mostly a defensive role.