Cheetahs skipper slams shoddy performance

Rudolph Jacobs

Cheetahs captain Torsten van Jaarsveld (right) lamented his side’s poor discipline, despite their resounding 45-21 Pro14 win over the Kings in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.

The victory ensured the Free State side remained in third spot in Conference A on 35 points, after picking up their seventh win in 12 games, though three yellow cards left a cloud over their bonus-point performance.

The previous week against Italian side Benetton, the Cheetahs were shown two yellow cards, and this time it was lock Justin Basson, prop Charles Marais and flank Junior Pokomela who were ordered off the park.

“Yellow cards almost cost us again,” Van Jaarsveld admitted.

“It’s always difficult to defend your tryline, to stick your hand in the ruck trying to steal the ball.”

The Cheetahs started off well, racing to a 24-7 half-time lead, but with 10 minutes left the Kings reduced the deficit to 31-21 with the Cheetahs down to just 13 men.

It took two late tries, with centre Nico Lee completing his hattrick in the 74th minute and hooker Jacques du Toit scoring their sixth a minute later, to seal a comprehensive victory.

“We will have to reassess those options when we have to defend our tryline,” Van Jaarsveld said ahead of their rematch in Bloemfontein this weekend.

“We knew it was going to be a tough battle up front and it is never easy going down to Port Elizabeth,” he said.

The Kings scored three tries through fullback Yaw Penxe, flank Eital Bredenkamp and a penalty try, while the Cheetahs’ tries were secured through Lee, Du Toit, fullback Clayton Blommetjies and scrumhalf Shaun Venter.

Cheetahs flyhalf Fred Zeilinga was named Man-of-the-Match after contributing 15 points, kicking all six of their conversions and adding a penalty.