It was tough, brutal and entertaining but it was the Cell C Sharks who reigned supreme in their second round Carling Currie Cup clash with Toyota Free State, emerging 38-31 victors at Jonsson Kings Park on Sunday.
After the cancelled match against the New Nation Pumas in midweek and the loss of log points, this match took on added importance in the race for final log positions with the conclusion of the pool stages rapidly approaching and the five points will do their campaign the world of good.
The Cell C Sharks won 47-30 in the first round match in Bloemfontein three weeks ago and made it two from two with this exciting match that yielded ten tries.
Both teams played some early testing rugby, checking what the other was all about before the visitors delivered a quick-fire attack that ended in the first try of the game in the 7th minute, the conversion from out wide resulting in a seven-pointer.
The Cheetahs quickly conceded a Cell C Sharks try with a great break-out from Cameron Wright who put his team on the front foot and Free State in trouble defensively, before sending the ball wide to speedster Thaakir Abrahams who raced down the touchline for a great response.
When earlier being thwarted by some outstanding Cell C Sharks defence when Free State opted to send a penalty to the line, the next chance they had, decided to go for the points rather, opting to kick a penalty to extend their lead to five points as the game approached the end of the first quarter.
Free State added a second penalty to push their lead to 13-5 a few minutes later, but the perfect response from the Cell C Sharks initially had Free State under pressure on defence where they conceded penalties to set up the lineout, driving maul option which was executed to perfection with Kerron van Vuuren touching down with Chamberlain’s conversion taking his team to within one point of the visitors.
Henco Venter got try number three minutes later after Free State had bungled their exit under pressure and from the resultant Cell C Sharks scrum, the captain saw a gap and muscled his way over with Chamberlain making no mistake for a 19-13 lead on the half hour.
The visitors did well to create two positive opportunities in the Cell C Sharks 22, but both times couldn’t handle the defensive pressure. However, their third foray in quick succession finally earned the reward with a try in the corner with a minute of the half remaining. With the wide conversion missing the mark, the Cell C Sharks held a one point lead going into half-time, ahead 19-18.
Early in the second half, Free State were reduced to 14 men with a red card for a shoulder strike to the head of Dylan Richardson, and from the ensuing attack, some lovely interplay led to Cameron Wright running the perfect support line to get the bonus point, converted try and extend their lead to 26-18.
The visitors reduced the gap to five points with a scrum penalty but their joy was short-lived as they were forced into a long period of defence and with a man down permanently, were always going to be asked to work hard, finally conceding a second driving maul try for van Vuuren and the Cell C Sharks’ fifth, with replacement flyhalf Lionel Cronje pushing the lead to 33-21 and the final quarter left to play.
Not three minutes later, Free State scored with a number of pick and drive efforts, earning their third try of the game, but almost immediately from the kick-off, the Cell C Sharks were back on the scoreboard, a lovely cross-kick finding space and Abrahams scoring his second as he dotted down just before the ball rolled into touch.
In the last five minutes, repeated infringements from the Cell C Sharks saw them lose two players to the sin bin in quick succession
With time on the clock ticking away, Free State hammered away at the try-line and with a minute remaining, earned the bonus point try out wide. The conversion was off-target so seven points separated the sides, but with the kick-off still to come.
Free State attacked for a good two minutes in search of the match-equalling try, but it was down to the poaching skills of James Venter to kill the game off for the visitors.
