Vodacom Cup
Free State edge brave EP
2010-03-19 19:02
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Free State saw off a spirited Eastern Province team to win their Vodacom Cup South section match 25-16 (halftime 14-9) at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Fullback Justin Peach scored all the visitors’ points, through a try, conversion and three penalties, but it was not enough to give his team what would have been their first win over the Free Staters in nine years.
Instead it was Free State who scored when it mattered most, and they crossed for three tries to give themselves enough of a buffer in the closing stages when the game was in the balance.
Peach kicked a sixth-minute penalty to open the scoring before the home side, whose only Vodacom Cup title came a decade ago, scored their first try through winger Alec Mhlanga, converted by flyhalf Sias Ebersohn.
Springbok Sevens player Philip Snyman then made it 14-3 after half an hour when he cut though for Ebersohn to kick an easy conversion and suggest to the small crowd that they were about to witness a runaway victory.
It didn’t quite turn out that way, with Peach keeping his team in the game with two further first-half penalties to keep the deficit at manageable proportions at the break.
In the second half, Peach scored a good try within five minutes of the restart and then converted it to give the visitors the lead against the run of play.
But Ebersohn restored the Free Staters’ advantage with a 59th-minute penalty (17-16).
With play swinging from end to end, Springbok eighthman Ashley Johnson, the man of the match, dotted down with 10 minutes remaining to open up a narrow six-point lead.
Thereafter followed a number of frantic attempts to gain the advantage, with both sides attempting and missing drop goal attempts before Ebersohn eventually nailed one in the 79th minute to seal the win.
For the visitors, Peach will have had mixed feelings after scoring all his side’s points but also missing three penalties that might have changed the course of the match.
Had he kicked them, the competition’s all-time leading scorer might also have walked away with the man of the match award, but this went to Johnson for an industrious afternoon at the back of the scrum, and the try which eventually separated the sides.
Scorers:
Free State 25 – Tries: Alec Mhlanga, Philip Snyman, Ashley Johnson. Conversions: Sias Ebersohn (2). Penalty: Ebersohn. Drop goal: Ebersohn.
Eastern Province 16 – Try: Justin Peach. Conversion: Peach. Penalties: Peach (3).