Cheetahs’ PRO14 campaign off to losing start

Cape Town - The Cheetahs’ debut in Europe’s PRO14 started on a low note when they were comprehensively beaten by Ulster in Belfast on Friday night.

The Irish club won 42-19, after leading 27-14 at half-time.

The hosts ran in six tries to claim a bonus-point win.

The Cheetahs’ defence again proved shaky while their discipline also let them down as two players - flank Henco Venter and prop Johan Coetzee - received yellow cards.

Ulster had six South African-born players in their starting team, with former Springbok flank Jean Deysel producing a man-of-the-match performance.

The Cheetahs will stay in Ireland next week where they will tackle Munster at Thomond Park (Saturday, September 9 - 18:15 SA time).

Scorers:

Ulster

Tries: Tommy Bowe, Alan O'Conner, Stuart McCloskey, Charles Piutau, Louis Ludik, Peter Nelson
Conversions: John Cooney (2), Nelson
Penalties: Cooney (2)

Cheetahs

Tries: Clayton Blommetjies, Makazole Mapimpi, Sergeal Petersen
Conversions: William Small-Smith (2)

Teams:

Ulster

15 Charles Piutau, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Tommy Bowe, 12 Stuart McCloskey, 11 Louis Ludik, 10 Christian Lealiifano, 9 John Cooney, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Chris Henry (captain), 6 Jean Deysel, 5 Alan O’Connor, 4 Robbie Diack, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Kyle McCall

Substitutes: 16 John Andrew, 17 Callum Black, 18 Rodney Ah You, 19 Matthew Rea, 20 Sean Reidy, 21 David Shanahan, 22 Peter Nelson, 23 Daren Cave

Cheetahs

15 Sergeal Petersen, 14 Rosko Specman, 13 William Small-Smith, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Clayton Blommetjies, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan (captain), 7 Henco Venter, 6 Paul Schoeman, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Charles Marais

Substitutes: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Rynier Bernardo, 20 Gerhard Olivier, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Cecil Afrika, 23 Rayno Benjamin