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Bloemfontein - The Cheetahs are second in of the South African conference in the Super Rugby competition after beating the Southern Kings 26-12 in their encounter at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The men from Bloemfontein would welcome next week's bye after enduring ten weeks of difficult Super Rugby. Winning seven games so far in this year's competition, they became one of the favourites to progress to the knockout stages.
The Kings looked the part early on, running everything at the Cheetahs with the likes of eighthman Jacques Engelbrecht keeping the Cheetahs' defence busy. They put the hosts under pressure which resulted in the hosts kicking away possession.
GALLERY: Super Rugby - Week 11
The Kings' inability to keep possession at the break down, however, posed problems for them.
The Cheetahs put the first points on the board when the visitors gave away possession and Cheetahs' scrum half Piet van Zyl broke away.
Speedster Raymond Rhule followed up and beat two Kings' defenders for his fifth try of the Super Rugby season.
The Cheetahs gave away numerous penalties in the first half, with Kings flyhalf Demitri Catrakilis capitalising, but their first try gave the home side valuable momentum which they utilised at every opportunity.
Cheetahs flyhalf Burton Francis kicked a penalty to give his side a five point advantage in the 16th minute, but Catrakilis answered in kind after the hosts infringed at the break down area.
Ten minutes before half time, the Cheetahs scored their second try after flanker Lappies Labuschagne scored after a brilliant break by scrum half Van Zyl.
Francis converted, leaving the Kings trailing by nine points. The hosts discipline let them down once again and Catrakilis reduced the deficit to six points with his third successful penalty kick to leave the score 15-9 at halftime in favour of the Cheetahs.
The hosts started the second half at a mediocre pace, but soon played with the same attacking prowess they showed in the first half. Putting together some good attacking phases, it was only a matter of time before winger Willie le Roux scored the Cheetahs third try of the evening.
The Kings defended for most part of the first five minutes, but got some reward for their efforts when Catrakilis kicked his fourth penalty of the evening. Francis replied for the Cheetahs after big lock Ligtoring Landman was held up over the goal line in the wake of a penalty advantage.
Once again, it left the Kings 11 points short and they opted to kick for touch rather than goal with their next penalty.
The Cheetahs' solid defence, however, left no holes for the visitors and they in turn started to loose what little momentum they had. The hosts progressed to the Kings goal line once again, but this time Francis kicked a penalty to help settle things down.
The last couple of minutes of the game became really scrappy as the Cheetahs searched in vain for a bonus point try.
Teams:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert
Ebersohn, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Burton Francis, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Phillip
van der Walt, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Francois
Uys, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1
Coenie Oosthuizen
Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Rynhard Landman, 19
Frans Viljoen, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Ryno Benjamin
Kings:
15
George Whitehead, 14 Siyanda Grey, 13 Ronnie Cooke, 12 Andries Strauss
(captain), 11 Michael Killian, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Shaun Venter, 8
Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Wimpie van der Walt, 6 Cornell du Preez, 5 Rynier
Bernardo, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Kevin Buys, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 Schalk
Ferreira
Substitutes: 16 Virgile Lacombe, 17 Grant Kemp, 18 David
Bulbring, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Nicolas Vergallo, 21 Waylon Murray, 22
Siviwe Soyizwapi
