Free State give Border lesson

Bloemfontein - Vodacom Free State kicked off their Vodacom Cup campaign with a 41-17 (halftime 20-3) home win over Border in a historic South section match played at Grey College on Saturday.

In fitting with the location (it was the first provincial fixture ever hosted by the famous high school because of construction at Vodacom Park), the Cheetahs gave the Bulldogs an early-season rugby lesson on a hot afternoon, but not before the visitors fashioned a comeback after the break.

The home side got the scoreboard ticking in the opening minutes through a try under the posts from fullback Jandré Blom, after good work from left wing Beast Ndwandwa down the left-hand touchline. Blom converted to make it 7-0.

The classy fullback extended the lead to 10-0 in the 18th minute with a well-struck penalty before the visitors missed out on an opportunity to cancel out that score after flyhalf Reinhard Gerber’s penalty sailed wide of the mark.

Third time lucky

Blom made no such mistake on the half-hour mark when he landed a difficult 50m penalty to make it 13-0. Frustratingly for the Bulldogs, Gerber had no such luck, missing his second attempt two minutes later.

Ndwandwa was rewarded for a solid game when he scored a try in the 35th minute after good interaction with centre JW Jonker and Blom made no mistake in adding the extra points.

For Gerber it was a case of third time lucky as the men from the Eastern Cape finally got onto the scoreboard in the 37th minute and cut the arrears to 17 points.

The Bulldogs staged a fightback in the second half with two good tries, the first coming in the 43rd minute through athletic No 8 Lubabalo Mzwakali, which Gerber converted to make it 20-10.

Solid start

Border cut the deficit to just three points midway through the second half when flanker Dumisane Meslane shocked the home crowd with a soft try that Gerber once again made into a seven-pointer.

But the Free Staters picked themselves up to score three further tries, to No 8 Francois Uys, Jonker and Kabamba Floors, all of which were converted by Blom to bring his tally to 21 points and give last year’s finalists a solid start to their campaign.

Scorers:

Free State 41 – Tries: Jandré Blom, Beast Ndwandwa, Francois Uys, JW Jonker, Kabamba Floors. Conversions: Blom (5). Penalties: Blom (2).

Border 17 – Tries: Lubabalo Mzwakali, Dumisane Meslane. Conversions: Gerber (2). Penalty: Reinhard Gerber.