Cheetahs give Hurricanes the boot

The Cheetahs sprung the second upset of the weekend by bringing the Hurricanes' unbeaten run in the Super 14 to an end, with a clinical 28-12 win in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

A superb forward performance coupled with a flawless kicking display by centre Meyer Bosman - who slotted three of his four penalties from inside his own half - and Naas Olivier, sealed the victory.

The home side got all their basics right - solid scrums and defence, a clever tactical kicking game and they were dominant at the line-outs. They also capitalised on the Hurricanes' ill-discipline, who had centre Ma'a Nonu and lock Jeremy Thrush sent to the bin.

The Cheetahs victory may however come at a cost following an injury to star flanker Heinrich Brussow who was carried off after the final whistle.

The Hurricanes outscored the Cheetahs two tries to one, but the dead-eye goal-kicking of Olivier and Bosman won the day for the home side.

The fly-half and centre combined to kick all the Cheetahs' eight shots on goal, including seven penalties and the conversion of their match-winning try to replacement flanker Kabamba Floors early in the second half.

Floors' try with half an hour remaining doubled the Cheetahs' half-time seven-point lead to put them out to two converted tries ahead. The Hurricanes were just unable to come back in the face of a committed Cheetahs side, who restricted their attacking opportunities.

The Hurricanes trailed the home side 5-12 at half-time after weathering a frenetic Cheetahs attack and the sin-binning of Nonu for a dangerous tackle on Juan Smith for the final ten minutes of the half.

Nonu;s yellow card came moments after Bosman had kicked the Cheetahs' fourth penalty following the Hurricanes only try of the first half to wing David Smith.

Skipper Andrew Hore found a clean target at the set-piece in lock Bryn Evans, allowing the backs to spin the ball across the Cheetahs' posts to Smith who wriggled over the line for the five-pointer.

Olivier and Bosman replied with their team's second and third penalties to put the Cheetahs back in the lead at 9-5 after 23 minutes, the second from Bosman from his own side of halfway.

The Hurricanes went close to scoring their second try following a quick tap penalty and surge ahead into Cheetahs territory by number eight Rodney So'oialo. A concerted period of phase play saw the movement snuffed out with desperate defence in the corner with Nonu bundled into touch.

Bosman pushed their lead out to 12-5, ahead of Nonu's sin-binning and an inspired passage of attack by the Cheetahs that was halted by a try-saving steal at the breakdown by Hore.

The Cheetahs extended their advantage to fourteen points with the TMO awarding Floors a try near the corner flag after a counter-attack in broken play and Olivier's sideline conversion.

The Hurricanes now had to score three times over the closing thirty minutes of play to win.

Bosman then made this harder with another monster penalty to make it 22-5, followed by a sixth penalty of the evening to Olivier to extend this lead to 25-5 heading into the last quarter of the match.

The Cheetahs pressed hard to seal the outcome but the Hurricanes held off a concerted period of attack, losing replacement lock Jeremy Thrush in the process to the sin-bin for killing play on the Hurricanes' line.

Full-back Cory Jane ran hard for a well-deserved try and replacement fly-half Willie Ripia converted to close the gap to 25-12 with 10 minutes remaining, but a late revival was ended when Olivier added another three-pointer to secure victory for the Cheetahs.

The result ended the Hurricanes three-match winning streak and leaves the Bulls on top of the Super 14 table and the only team who remain unbeaten.

The scorers:

For Cheetahs:
Try: Floors
Con: Olivier
Pens: Bosman 4, Olivier 3

For Hurricanes:
Tries: Smith, Jane
Con: Ripia

Yellow cards: Nonu, 31 mins (Hurricanes, spear tackle), Jeremy Thrush, 67 mins (Hurricanes, repeated infringements at the breakdown)

Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Frans Viljoen, 7 Juan Smith (c), 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Waltie Vermeulen, 4 Nico Breedt, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 David de Villiers, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Riaan Viljoen, 22 Danwel Demas

Hurricanes: 15 Cory Jane, 14 Andre Taylor, 13 Alapati Leiua, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 David Smith, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Karl Lowe, 6 Victor Vito, 5 Michael Paterson, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore (c), 1 John Schwalger.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Anthony Perenise, 18 Jeremy Thrush, 19 Scott Waldrom, 20 Tyson Keats, 21 Willie Ripia, 22 Brett Mather.

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Joey Salmans (South Africa)
Television match official: Johann Meuwesen (South Africa)